Horizon
by greenpeach20
Summary: Part two of the Renesmee Series. Watch Jacob and Nessie explore their love and go through many adventures on the way.
1. New

**New**

The days that followed New Year's were the same as any other times we'd spent together, but so much better than before. Everyone came back home from their trips shortly after I returned to school from winter break. Daddy had already told everyone about Jacob's plans, so no one was surprised when I told them. Rosalie looked miffed about it. The others were happy for me, despite their lack of surprise.

Aida was the only one of my friends that I told about Jacob. She was the only friend that knew any details and was the only friend that wouldn't ask a whole bunch of questions. She probably already knew all the details she wanted to know, anyway. That didn't stop her from teasing me in science class that Monday, though.

"I have to say, Nessie, I never thought you'd have the balls to do it. I'm glad Jacob did." I smacked her arm.

"Will you shut up?"

"What? I'm just saying."

"I was working up to it. Jacob just beat me to the punch. Not that I'm complaining." She rolled her eyes.

"Nessie, a fucking six year old beat you to the punch line. If a six year old is telling her man that she loves him but you aren't, that's pretty sad."

"She didn't say she loved him. She said he was her boyfriend. And that hardly counts for anything, she's a six year old. She doesn't know what it means."

"Ignorant or not, she still beat you." I shacked my head and sighed. "Now to my next question." I felt a chill go down my spine from the seduction in her voice. "How was it?"

"How was what?"

"You know what. How was the chick chick bang bang?" I sighed.

"There was none." Her eyes widened in horror.

"Come again."

"There was none."

"What do you mean, there was none? How do two people confess their love to one another and not go at it?" I shrugged.

"We just didn't, okay. I wanted to, he said I was too young, end of story." Aida rolled her eyes at me.

"If he's waiting for you to be of a legal age or some shit like that, he'll be waiting for a long time. You're only three, technically."

"Aida, this really isn't any of your business."

"Did you guys at least kiss?"

"Yes, we kissed." Aida sighed in relief.

"Good. You're not completely hopeless." I glared at her.

"I'm going to throw a ball at your head in gym. I swear to god I will."

"The pain will be welcomed." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose and then started rubbing my forehead.

"Seriously, Aida. Seek out some help."

"Help is for the weak." I sighed again.

"Help isn't for the weak. Help is for the people that want to get over their problems or, in your case, cure their insanity."

"I'm not insane. I'm a loyal follower."

"A.K.A insane. Honestly, Aida, the only thing about you that isn't satanic is your music." She smirked.

"Interesting. Most people think they are." I shrugged.

"I don't think so. Just cause they walk around with freaky masks doesn't mean they're devil bands. And Evanesces is more gothic than anything. "

"Amen to that." I laughed.

"Wow. Saying amen didn't make you burst into flames." Aida glared a playful glare at me, then threw a cross at me.

"Aw shit. You didn't burst into flame." We laughed a little and I shook my head at her. And I was sure to throw a volleyball at her head. Completely on accident of course.

Daddy picked me up after school that day. After we gave each other a hug, daddy drove us out of the parking lot and back home. When he asked me about my day, he heard everything that happened when I thought about it. He sighed when he heard the conversation I'd had with Aida. I blushed and stared out the window when I realized that's what he was sighing at. I looked at daddy after a minute and started biting my lip. I took a deep breath before speaking.

"Are you mad at me?" Daddy sighed and finally shook his head.

"No, honey, I'm not mad."

"At me or Jacob?" Daddy shook his head.

"Why would I be mad at Jacob? He did as I asked and didn't take you then. And you didn't push him about it. I think you both were rational. So no, Nessie, I'm not made at either you or Jacob." I smiled at daddy.

"So that means that you're okay with this? Me and Jacob being together?" Daddy nodded.

"I'll admit that I'm not fond of how quickly this all happened. But I knew this would happen one day, and I came to terms with that. And the way I see it, considering we live in Forks, a town with a little over 3,000 people, you could either end up with Jacob, a man who's set and stable and could take care of you, or one of the many incompetent hormonal teenage boys at your school." I laughed.

"So compared to those odds, Jacob's a pretty decent choice." Daddy smiled and nodded.

"I can tolerate any stink as long as he makes my baby girl happy." I smiled and reached over to hug daddy.

"I love you, daddy." He hugged me back, keeping one hand on the wheel.

"I love you too, Nessie." I stayed in daddy's cold arms. I didn't really want to leave. Despite the cold, he was comforting. Daddy kissed my head once before he started talking again. "By the way, Nessie." I looked up to see daddy's golden eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Jacob's planning on asking you out on a date." My face twisted in confusion and excitement.

"Really? He told you?" Daddy smirked.

"No, actually. He was thinking about it earlier when I saw him last. I found out then." I pushed up a little but still stayed close.

"What was he planning?" Daddy gave me a lecturing look.

"Nessie, why would I tell you that? It would ruin the surprise behind it." I shrugged.

"I can still act surprised." I crossed my heart with my forefinger. "This conversation never happened." Daddy laughed lightly at me.

"Sorry, Nessie. He wants it to be a surprise. And I already told him I'm okay with it. He was annoyed with me for reading his thought, but that can't be helped." I laughed and shook my head. Daddy laughed at the thought that popped into my head.

"You're such a busybody, you know that, daddy?" Daddy shrugged.

"No I'm not. A busybody is someone that intentionally pokes their nose into other people's business. What I do is forced and unintentional. You think I like listening to people's thoughts? You wouldn't believe some of the sick things people think about. Honey, I've been in places where women, and men, fantasize about things they want to do to me."

"That must be nice."

"It's even worse with you." I gave daddy a strange look.

"What?"

"Sometimes, whenever I pick you up or when we go to Port Angeles, I hear men's thought about you. It's infuriating. It's bad enough hearing that from people about your mother, but it's a completely different story with you." I smiled at him and he smiled lightly back.

"As long as I'm with you or Jacob, I won't have to worry about any of that." Daddy tightened his grip slightly.

"You can bet on that, Nessie." We smiled at each other again as he kept driving. Jacob wasn't at the house when we got there. Daddy said that he would be here soon, though.

Jasper and Emmett were outside play fighting. Daddy went outside to join them. Momma, Rosalie, and Alice were downstairs not watching the movie that was on. They were talking to each other about things in general. After I walked a few paces towards them, they gestured for me to come join their conversation. I sat between momma and Rosalie on the couch with Alice sitting daintily on the coffee table across from us. Rosalie and momma started playing with my hair.

I joined in their conversation and told them about my day at school. I neglected my conversation with Aida, but was detailed with that aside. Momma was happy that I was happy with regards to me and Jacob. She was happy that Jacob was finally happy. Alice felt the same way as momma. Rosalie, though I think she was exaggerating, told me I could do better than a wet mongrel. I don't care what those two said, they were friends.

After an hour and a half of talking to momma, Rosalie and Alice, I heard a car pull up into the garage. I kissed momma's cheek, and got up off the couch and ran to the garage to greet Jacob.

When I got to the garage, Jacob was getting out of his car and he smiled at me when he saw me. When he closed the door to his car, I walked the rest of the way to him and we hugged. Jacob then lifted me up to his level so that my feet were dangling off the ground. I kissed the tip of his nose.

"How was work?" He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose.

"Same ole, same ole." I widened my smile with a light laugh. "How was school?" I shrugged.

"Not bad. Aida had a lot to say about us." Jacob's face changed to one of mock concern.

"I shudder to think." I giggled and brought my hands from his back to his cheeks and showed him science class. He laughed a little to each little comment, especially at the end. "We're not completely hopeless, huh?" I nodded.

"She has the best intentions at heart." Jacob's face became shocked.

"She has a heart?" I smacked Jacob's chest with a laugh.

"Yes, she has a heart. She just has her own unique way of doing and saying things is all." Jacob harrumphed. I giggled.

"That's for sure. If I didn't know better, I'd say she swore better than Emmett." We heard Emmett yell a 'ha' in the distance and we both laughed. "Like is said. If I didn't know better." We laughed again together and looked at each other a moment just smiling.

"I missed you." He smiled wider, letting me see his pearly teeth.

"Me too." I rubbed my nose against his once, then kissed him. He kissed me back. It was quick, but none the less meaningful. Jacob placed me back down when he looked up and saw someone behind us. I knew it was daddy. I could smell him. "You didn't tell her did you?" Daddy chuckled and shook his head.

"You're secret safe with me, Jacob." Jacob smiled.

"Sure, sure. Didn't stop you from telling her I was planning something, though, did it?" Daddy shrugged.

"What can I say? It's a habit. I'm so used to Bella hating surprises that I feel the need to warn her or Nessie when something's being planned."

"Mhm. Nessie's right. You are a busybody." Daddy laughed.

"When you're a mind reader, Jacob, you can't really help it." Jacob shrugged.

"Sure, sure." Jacob looked at me and took my hand. I smiled at him and dragged him with me to the house and brought him to the music room where the piano was. Jacob looked around the living room we passed and outside. "Are Esme and Carlisle hunting?" I shook my head.

"They're upstairs."

"Oh." When Jacob and I reached the music room, I pulled him the rest of the way to the piano and let go of him so we could sit down. When we were both sitting, I looked at him with a smile.

"Any requests?" Jacob shook his head.

"Something soft." I nodded and started playing. I chose to play the lullaby that daddy had written for me so many years ago. Jacob started running his fingers through my hair while I was playing. Then he sighed. "I guess it would be stupid to wait until later since you already know." I smiled.

"It would. So when did you want to go on our first date?" Jacob chuckled.

"Edward, you ruined the moment." I smiled and I heard daddy chuckle from outside. Jacob sighed. "Oh well. How's this Friday?" I smiled.

"It's free. What did you want to do?" Jacob shrugged.

"I figured dinner and a movie. But since you won't eat any food other than capers and sauerkraut, I figured I could get a few hot dogs and have them covered in sauerkraut and you could eat from those." I nodded.

"Sounds tasty. And what movie did you have in mind?" he smirked.

"Saw VII." I laughed. (*I guarantee you, it's going to happen. Mark my words. Saw VI, What the hell was in that fucking box? And the vicious cycle will continue.*)

"I thought they said that six would be the last one." He shrugged.

"That's what they said about five, too. But, of course, we just needed to know what was in the box that John left for his wife, and now we need to know how she and that detective dude are connected to all these murders."

"Will this series ever end?" Jacob shrugged.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it never did." Jacob laughed. "Saw XXVIII, 200 years into the future. A scientist brings Jigsaw back to life so that he can continue his work again. His first victim will be the last guy to take over his work." I started laughing.

"Dear god, I hope not. That movie would suck." Jacob shrugged.

"And yet, everyone would still watch it." I nodded in humored shame.

"Dear god, not another one. What the hell, let's see it." Jacob and I laughed. I stopped playing the piano to laugh by now.

"We can find another movie if you want." I shook my head.

"No. If worse comes to worse, we can make out for the rest of the movie." Jacob laughed and I heard daddy hiss. I think he knew I was joking, but that didn't stop him from not liking the idea.

"I'm not opposed to that."

"Don't push your luck Jacob." I giggled when I heard daddy's voice. Jacob sighed.

"Don't be that way, Edward. You know I'm kidding." Daddy's face didn't change.

"Sure, sure." I laughed again. First Jacob's pinching the bridge of his nose, now daddy's saying Jacob's favorite expression. It was cute. Daddy smiled at me. "It isn't cute, honey. It's sad." With that, daddy walked out of the room and went over to where momma and the others were still sitting. Jacob looked at me, confused.

"What was he talking about?" I shrugged.

"Who knows." Jacob gave me a funny look. "It was nothing, promise." Jacob looked like he was about to say something. I silenced him by giving him a kiss. "Nothing, Jacob." He smiled and chuckled.

"Sure, sure." I smiled and kissed him one more time before I started playing the piano again.

The next day, at school, Madison wasn't at school, so I was stuck just talking to Matt. He was eager to talk about his winter vacation. He said that he and his family went to Jamaica for a week or so and that he'd had a great time. I nodded my head to whatever he said and answered any questions he had.

I was relieved when class started. Matt looked like he was about to ask me out on a date. I sighed when the teacher announced what we were reading for the unit. The Crucible. I'd already read it and I've watched the movie. Both of which I hated with a burning passion. We started reading the play in class and would be reading it for the next few weeks and he planned on showing us the movie at the end of the unit. I shuddered. That was the topic at lunch today. Candy brought up that she didn't want to read it, and I saw Coralline's face when she said that. It made me laugh.

"So you hate that play too, huh?" She nodded.

"I've never hated a character with so much passion before. It was like I wanted to jump into the book and shoot Abigail Williams in the face." I laughed.

"She was worse in the movie. Wynona Rider did a great job. I wanted to shot her." Coralline laughed lightly. Megan looked at me.

"Is it really that bad?" I nodded and sighed.

"Reading that book was more painful than if someone were to cut me with a dirty knife, stuff salt into my woods and set me on fire. I would have rather gone through that than read that play." Aida smirked and I sighed. "In other words Aida, someone was tickling me with pink feathers and smothering me with a cute teddy bear." She scrunched her nose.

"Eww." I nodded.

"Yeah. That bad." Everyone at the table shuddered. Coralline nodded.

"I would have rather had a person shove a watermelon up my ass than read that play."

"Amen to that." Coralline and I laughed together for a minute while everyone who didn't know the book shuddered. When lunch was over, I walked with Aida to science together and I further warned her of the horrors of The Crucible.

The teacher was lecturing today. He was talking about stellar movements and the planets. He was also sure to mention that if we were really good for the rest of the year, we would watch The Day After Tomorrow the last three days of school. I hadn't watched the movie in a really long time, but I remembered liking it. It was one of grandpa's and momma's favorites. At the end of class, Aida and I were walking to gym and I decided I'd take a hit and tell her about my date.

"So guess what." I said while we were in the hallway.

"Just tell me, Nessie. You know I hate guessing."

"You hate everything."

"And I especially hate guessing. So tell me what it is you want to say." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Jacob and I are going on a date this Friday." Aida didn't look surprised.

"So? Don't people do that when they're going out?" I was about to say something. "And, on top of that, you two have been going on dates all your life anyway considering all the movies you two have seen and all that other datey stuff you two have done since you were born. So really, it's nothing new." I sighed.

"Aida. For once, could you pretend you care and be happy that Jacob and I are going on our first official date?" She sighed and rolled her eyes, then stopped us with a big fake smile on her face and started clapping her hands together and bouncing up and down and used an exaggerated preppy accent.

"O.M.G. Nessie, you and Jacob are like, totally finally going on a date. Like, O.M.G." I gave her a halfhearted glare. Then her face went back to her normal half sneer and stood still. "Better?" I sighed.

"Not what I was looking for, but I'll take it." She smirked and we continued on to the locker room to get ready for gym class.

I didn't let Aida's lack of excitement ruin how excited I was. True, Jacob and I had done all this stuff together already throughout my life, but this was different. We were an actual, honest to god, couple now. And I rubbed it in her face all week, just to make her mad. When it was finally Friday, I was anxious the whole day. Jacob was picking me up after school and we were going to his place first before we left for Port Angeles for the movie.

"I know you've heard this a lot this week, but I'm really excited for tonight." I said to Aida while we were walking to science class. She rolled her eyes.

"Is that why you dressed the way you did today?" I nodded. I was wearing low rise skinny jeans and a purple quarter sleeve shirt and bright purple high heeled strappy shoes. I was sure to wear my woven bracelet and my two lockets and my plumeria hair comb on the spot that held my hair back in a half ponytail. And I was wearing a sweet subtle pink lip gloss and a lot of mascara and eyeliner and a smoky eye with a hint of purple liner along my top lash line.

"Yes, that's why I'm dressed fancier today than I usually am. And you know what, I'm even wearing one of my best push-up bras, just for the occasion." She gave me a weird look.

"So that's why your boobs look bigger today. You had Matt, Kevin, and Madison drooling at the lunch table I hope you know." I kept walking with a proud edge to my walk today.

"I don't care. I wanted to look nice for tonight, so that's what did." She shrugged.

"Well, I hope it goes well, I guess. And just a little tip, Nessie." I looked at her.

"What?" Her face was completely serious.

"Next time you two are making out, suck on his bottom lip gently. Men love that." I smacked her arm and laughed lightly. She was silent a moment, but the she gently grabbed my arm when she remembered something else she wanted to say. "And one more thing."

"There's more?" I was getting nervous now. Her face stayed serious as she nodded.

"Before you leave school today, stop by the nurse's office and get some free condoms." I smacked her arm hard and started walking away towards class. "What?! They're the ones from Juno. You know, the ones that looked like grape suckers that the chick at the clinic tried to give her. They really do make their junk smell like pie." When I got to my seat I turned around to face her.

"How do you even….you know what, I don't want to know." Aida rolled her eyes and sat down next to me at the science table.

"Nessie, I'm not a slut or anything if that's what you're thinking. I have a boyfriend and we do shit. That's all it is." I sighed.

"Really, Aida, I don't need to know."

"But I want you to know. I'm a loyal girlfriend and he and I have been going out for three months now."

"Who is he even?"

"Remember that guy that was at the Spirit Halloween that we got our costumes from."

"No, but keep going."

"Well, I'm dating him. I met him at a satanic gathering." I gave her a weird look.

"You people have gatherings?"

"Of course we have gatherings. All religions have gatherings of some form. But unlike all other religions, our gatherings are actually fun." I kept giving her a weird look and nodded my head awkwardly.

"Sure. Whatever." We were both quiet for a minute. "So you've………done that?" Aida nodded.

"Yes, Nessie, I have. And let me tell you, it's phenomenal." I put my hand up in front of her face.

"Okay, you've talked enough."Aida shrugged.

"I'm just saying, Nessie." Aida and I didn't talk about that anymore after that.

When it was finally the end of the day, I practically ran out of the gym and to my locker to get my things. When I had everything, I ran out the door and looked for Jacob's car. He was parked on the other side of the parking lot where there weren't many cars parked. I made my way across the lot to where his car was and let myself into the car. I reached across the seat and we pecked.

"Hey." He smiled back.

"You ready for gore that you've seen six times before?" I giggled.

"Never enough Jigsaw, right?" He laughed with me and his response was sarcastic sounding.

"Right?" Jacob turned his upper body to see behind him as he backed out the car. When he was straight, we drove off and onto the highway to Jacob's apartment. When we got there, we walked up to the apartment. When we got up there, we played a few rounds of gin to pass the time. The movie started at six, so we had some time to kill.

Jacob and I played several rounds, him winning most of them. He seemed to be the luckiest so far with picking the right cards.

"And that's gin." He said when he put down his last three cards. I sighed.

"Why do you keep winning?" Jacob laughed lightly.

"I'm just lucky today, I guess." I smirked.

"It would seem that way." After a few more rounds of gin, Jacob looked at the clock. He put down his cards and smiled at me and I smiled back. "Time to go?" He nodded.

"Yeah." I smiled and got up from the chair and followed Jacob back to the coat closet. We got our jackets and locked up before going down to the car and driving off for Port Angeles. When we got to the movie theatre, we were one of the first ones there. The movie had been released in theatres a while ago, so there weren't many people still going.

We sat way in the back of the theatre like we usually did. Jacob liked sitting near the back. He said the view was better that way. And it was great range for shooting molt balls at people if the movie was bad. I also figured it was more privacy.

A few more people came into the theatre as the previews started playing. Most of them sat near the front of the theatre for some reason. It was mostly couples coming to the movie anyway. All the diehard Saw fans already saw the movie a long time ago.

When the previews were over, the movie started with its usual scene of the victims who had to figure out how to get out of where they were. And, of course, they died anyway. I giggled. Jacob looked at me with a funny face. He brought his face closer to me and whispered.

"What's so funny?" I looked at him.

"It's the same with every movie. Either in the beginning or later on, there's someone in a trap of some sort and they always die." Jacob smiled.

"Yeah, I know. It's almost predictable now." I shook my head.

"Not almost. Is." He laughed under his breath, trying not to be too loud. Not that anyone would care I don't think. Half the people in the theatre weren't even watching the movie. They were either kissing or texting.

About half way through the movie, I was getting bored. I'd already finished munching on the sauerkraut and Jacob had eaten his hotdogs. As I figured it would be, the movie was getting really predictable. I rested my head against Jacob's shoulder. He lifted his arm up and my head landed gently on his chest and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I looked up at him as one of the victims of Jigsaw's game started screaming. I wasn't sure what was happening. I wasn't paying attention to the movie anymore.

"Jacob." He looked away from the screen and at me. Then he smiled.

"Yeah?" I nuzzled into my nook.

"Are you getting bored too?" Jacob smirked and nodded.

"A little, yeah." I smiled at him and he smiled wider back. Then I lifted my face to his and kissed him. He kissed me back for a moment, then he started laughing again. I gave him a weird look.

"What?" Jacob took a deep breath to stop laughing, then looked at me again.

"We've turned into the people we used to spit molt balls at." I started laughing with him. We were trying to keep our laughter quiet, but the rest of the audience could hear it. But no one cared.

"We have." We laughed a little more together. "Do you think people will start spitting molt balls at us now?" Jacob shook his head.

"Nope. That's cause we're the smart ones who sit in the back. It's only common decency and common sense to sit in the back if you know you won't be paying any attention to the movie." I smirked at him and poked his peck gently.

"Am I to assume you knew?" Jacob shook his head.

"Actually no. This was just a pleasant turn of events." I giggled a little more under my breath and Jacob joined me and rested his forehead against mine. As we looked at each other, Jacob moved his other hand to take my hand that was closest to him and we started playing with each other's fingers.

Eventually we both turned back to the screen, but we didn't let go of each other. I kept my head on his chest and our fingers kept playing together as we watched the rest of the movie. Another one of the cops in the movie died in the end, and, though it was subtle, the movie hinted to yet another sequel. I sighed when the ending credits started playing.

"Stayed tuned for Saw VIII. We lied about it ending." (*Mark my words, it will happen.*) Jacob laughed again as we got up from our seats and started leaving the theatre.

"What's sad is that we're probably going to see that too." I laughed.

"Just because we have nothing better to do." Jacob nodded.

"Most likely." We walked out of the theatre as some couples were just realizing that the movie was over. When we got out and to the car, we got in and Jacob drove us to the highway and made our way home. But he got off at an exit I wasn't familiar with.

I didn't ask questions at first. I just watched the road and tried to find something familiar. But I didn't find anything. Finally, after we'd been driving for about ten minutes, I looked at Jacob and decided to ask.

"Where are we going?" Jacob smirked.

"It's a surprise." I rolled my eyes half heartedly.

"Come on Jacob, tell me." He shook his head with a silly smile on his face.

"Nope. You'll have to wait and see." I sighed and didn't say anything more. We drove a few more minutes before Jacob came into a parking lot that was already filled with cars and there were people at the beach. We got out of the car and I walked around to get to Jacob.

"Where are we?" Jacob smiled.

"We're at the Neah beach outside the Makka reservation. I heard they were throwing a birthday party tonight."

"We were invited?" Jacob smiled and shook his head.

"No. We're climbing to the top of the cliff over there." Jacob pointed to his right and I looked at the cliff he was pointing at. It was smaller than the cliff at first beach, but it was high up. A great spot for cliff diving.

"We're cliff diving?" Jacob smirked and shook his head.

"You're getting warmer." I sighed.

"What are we doing then?" Jacob took my hand and started pulling me with him.

"You'll see when we get up there." Jacob pulled me with him up to the cliff and I looked around trying to find some clues as to what we were doing.

There was nothing at the top of the cliff when we got there either. I looked at Jacob and he was just smiling at me. He motioned with his hand for me to sit on the edge of the cliff. I did as he asked and followed him to the edge of the cliff next to him and looked out to the ocean. There were a few islands in the distance that didn't even falter with the scenery. I rested my head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders again as we looked out.

"Look at the sky, Nessie." I looked up at the sky like he asked and waited a few minutes for what it was he was talking about.

Eventually, the people from the party below started setting off fireworks into the sky. They brightened the sky and were reflected off the water. They were all unique and beautiful in their own right. They were all every color of the rainbow and colors that weren't even in the color spectrum. Some fireworks formed animals, like horses and rabbits and birds. I kissed my nook and nuzzled against him.

"Did you arrange this?" Jacob shook his head as he rested his on mine.

"No. Once again, purely convenient. One of the elders of this tribe turned 102 today. They're having a huge party to celebrate. They've been doing this every year since he reached 100."

"So we're taking advantage of an old man's party?" Jacob shrugged.

"I wouldn't say taking advantage. I'd say we're more or less…..borrowing the time." I giggled.

"If you say so." Jacob chuckled as we watched the fireworks together.

The show lasted a good twenty minutes before they ran out and screamed happy birthday to their elder. When the fireworks show was over, Jacob kissed the top of my head, my forehead, my cheek, the rip of my nose, and finally my lips.

His lips were hot on mine and the friction was wonderful. And he tasted better than he smelled, just as I remembered back when we were at Disneyworld. But, of course, this kiss was far better. Jacob brought his hand to my cheek and started caressing my cheek with his thumb. I brought my hand to his forearm and started rubbing it. I figured I'd take Aida's advice after all and I took Jacob's upper lip into my mouth and started sucking gently. I felt Jacob smile before he started doing the same to my bottom lip.

I sighed when he did that and he smirked again. I couldn't stop a smile either. Our lips parted as we both started laughing together. We rested our foreheads together and smiled for a few minutes, just looking at each other. Jacob gave me one more long kiss before saying anything.

"Did you like the fireworks?" I smiled and brought my hand from his forearm to his chest. I started playing with his shirt by pinching the fabric over and over.

"Yes. It was a lovely birthday party." Jacob chuckled.

"I mean to please." I giggled again and he joined me. Jacob brought his hand from my face to my arm and started running his hand up and down my arm with a wide grin on his face. "Even if the movie kind of sucked?" I shrugged.

"It's not your fault. It's both our faults for seeing it, even though we knew the series was starting to go under." Jacob huffed a laugh under his breath.

"Yeah, I guess. As long as you had fun, that's all I care about." I smiled and gave him another quick peck.

"I had a great time." He smiled.

"Then my work is done." I shook my head.

"I wouldn't say that." Jacob gave me a confused looked before I placed my lips on his again. Our eyes were closed as I let myself just feel.

Our lips moved together as they had before, but this union lasted much longer. I heard all the sounds that surrounded us and I could smell everything. But I mostly smelled Jacob and his scent surrounding me. We shared several small kisses combined with much longer, more passionate ones. Jacob ran the tip of his tongue along my lips asking for entrance, which I granted. I felt like I was melting when he delved in. His thumb began caressing my arms while still running up and down my arm. I had a tight hold of his shirt and was pulling slightly.

Our tongues met and retreated repeatedly as Jacob and I moved together, him occasionally changing the angle. We both breathed through our noses so that we wouldn't need to part as soon. I took the hand that was on his chest trailed up and along his neck. When I reached his neck, I rubbed him with my thumb and started inching its way to his hair. His hand started doing the same and made its way to my hair and started running through it repeatedly.

My left hand, which had been resting on the ground for support, lifted up to clutch into Jacob hair alongside my right hand. Jacob's left hand was rested on the ground, so nothing happened at first. But after a few more minutes, we kissed more. I became bold and gently bit Jacob's tongue. He groaned when I did that, and I smile triumphantly through the smile. But shortly after, Jacob's arm lost its hold on the ground and we fell over on our sides. Our lips were forced apart from the fall and we both started laughing after we landed. When we both took a deep breath, I sighed and we looked at each other for a few moments.

"I'm glad I have that effect on you, at least." Jacob started laughing again at my joke and I giggled back. When he was done laughing, he lifted himself up, then rested his other arm on my other side so the his upper body was above mine, and the rest of his body was at my side, but still close by.

"And I love every minute." We smiled at each other and he lowered his face to meet mine and we kissed again. I was about to reach for him, but he ended the kiss too quickly. "Let's get back, Nessie. It's getting late." I looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright." With that, Jacob gained his footing and lifted himself up to stand upright. When he was up, he bent down and held out his hand for me. I took his hand and let him pull me up and into his arms. My feet were dangling above the ground and I was looking into his eyes again. The most beautiful eyes in the world.

Jacob started walking to the car without taking his eyes off mine. When he reached the passenger's side door, he opened the door without losing hold of me and placed me in the seat. He gave me one more peck before he closed the door and walked around the car to the driver's seat. We drove back to La Push in thirty minutes. Jacob was going the speed limit tonight for some reason.

When we got back to his apartment, we went up the stairs and let ourselves in with smiles on our faces. We took off our jackets and put them back in the closet. I stretched out my arms and sighed.

"It always feels good to be home." I sighed one more time and heard Jacob approach me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I let my arms go to his and rested my back against his chest. Jacob bent down and brought his face to my neck and gave me a few breathy kisses.

"Home?" I smiled and lifted on arm up and around so that my hand was in his hair.

"Yep." I felt Jacob smile against my neck and I smiled too. Then Jacob bent down further and put one of his arms under my legs and lifted me up into his arms again. I brought my hands around his neck and looked at him.

Without a word, Jacob took me with him to his room. My eyes started to widen and my heart raced. I wondered if maybe we would actually go all the way tonight. Jacob kept smiling at me as he walked down the hall and to his room. When we were in, Jacob walked over to the bed and placed me gently on the bed. I immediately lifted myself to my knees in front of him and wrapped my arms back around his neck. He took hold of my waist and we kissed again. As we kissed, one of his hands trailed to my hair and took out my plumeria comb. He placed it on the night stand and brought his hand back up and took out the half ponytail I was wearing and let my long hair go free. When my hair was free, he took his mouth away and kissed my nose. I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"Let's just sleep in our regular clothes tonight." I gave him a weird look.

"You mean………sure. That's fine." I didn't let any of the disappointment show on my face. I should have figured we actually weren't going to. Jacob and I let go of each other and he started walking to his side of the bed. While he did that, I got off the bed and took off my shoes. Jacob did the same when he reached his side of the bed and we lifted the sheets and pulled them back over when we got in.

It was really bizarre feeling to wear regular clothes to bed, but I didn't pay any attention to it. I snuggled up to Jacob and he held me close to him like always. I let my hand roam around his chest and I breathed him in as he turned off the lights. I finally glided my hand to his collarbone and rubbed my thumb there.

"So when are we having our next date?" Jacob's grip tightened a moment and he kissed me sweetly.

"Whenever you want, Nessie." I smiled.

"Good." By then, I was getting tired and Jacob's heartbeat was thrumming to tone I loved so much. I listened to his heart as I always did and let the sound take me under and to sleep. But not before I gave Jacob's peck one last fond, tender kiss.


	2. You Needed Me

**You Needed Me**

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_I dedicate this chapter to Laura Engelhardt (January 10, 1991-April 17, 2009) and her family that died with her. Laura and her family, with the exception of her sister and her sister's daughter, were attacked and murdered. Her mother finally woke up yesterday morning. D'andre D. Howard, the man responsible for the attack, received a stab wound to the arm from Laura. Laura died a hero. Everyone who knew her loved her and she will be remembered for the rest of our lives. We all loved you, Laura. Always watch over us. We will miss you. Where purple this Friday to show your support against the fight against relationship violence, the violence that took Laura away from us. Thank you to all my readers, who have been so supportive and understanding through this trying time. We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I hope you like the chapter. And I hope that it touches your heart like it touched mine._

_Greenpeach20_

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"How much longer are we doing this Oceanography crap? We've been doing this for weeks." I shrugged at Aida as we worked on the homework our teacher was giving us class time to work on.

"I don't know, Aida. This unit isn't any longer than any of the other units we've had to study."

"We need to go back to Astronomy. That was fun."

"I don't get why you liked that unit so much. You nearly failed."

"It's because the dude with the face is retarded." I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

"No, Aida, you almost failed because you wrote a paper about Zeus and his many lovers when you were supposed to write about the gravity, mass and atmosphere of Jupiter. It was no fault of Mr. Peters." Aida gave me a questioning look. "Mr. Peters. He's the dude with the face. He's standing at the front of the class right now." Aida looked at the front of the class where our teacher was. Aida gave me a lecturing look.

"Funny, Nessie."

"Okay, seriously, Aida. It's February. How can you not remember him?" Aida shrugged.

"I don't have a reason to know him." I sighed.

"You amaze me, you know that?" She smirked.

"I know." I laughed at her little joke and sighed when I was done laughing. When class was over and we were walking to gym, Madison came up behind me and hugged me.

"Hi Nessie!!" I patted the arm that was needlessly around my neck and smiled.

"Hey Madison." She let go of me and started walking along side me on the other side of Aida.

"Guess what's coming up soon?" I shrugged.

"What?" She laughed.

"The annual school play!" I looked at Madison with a blank stare.

"And this means…?" She giggled.

"It means we need to start trying out for a part."

"No." Madison's face fell.

"You don't even know what the play is." I shrugged.

"I don't need to, Madison. I'm not trying out for the play."

"Why not?" Her voice had a whine to it this time that grinded on my nerves. I tried to stay calm.

"Because, Madison, it's probably going to be something stupid." She shook her head at me.

"It's not, I promise." I sighed.

"Okay, fine. What's the play about?" She smiled widely.

"It's called Wherefore Art Thou." I held up a hand to stop her.

"That means 'Why are you'. Why are you what?" Madison shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm not the one that came up with the title. But the story is so cute. It's a Shakespeare spin-off." I sighed.

"In other words, I probably won't like it." Madison pouted at me.

"Please don't talk like that, Nessie." I waited a moment for her to continue. Before she did, she snatched a locker next to me in the locker room. "Okay. So, as I said, it's called Wherefore Art thou."

"Okay."

"And it's a love story."

"Of course."

"And it's based during the Civil War. It's about two people that have been married for many years, but the love in their relationship has gone sour." I nodded awkwardly.

"Okay."

"But, what the wife doesn't know, is that her husband is secretly a master of disguise. And he's been helping Herriot Tubman and helping confederate deserters escape the country." I blinked several times. I pulled my gym shirt over my head and looked at Madison with the same quizzical look.

"It sounds like an American version of the Scarlet Pimpernel. I'm not seeing how it's a spin-off of something Shakespearian." She smiled and nodded. I sighed. "At least I get the name now." She grinned wider.

"Exactly, get ready for this. I want you, Nessie, to play the female lead, Mary Shraudder." I sighed heavily again and rested my head against the locker.

"Madison, I told you, I don't want to try out for the play." Madison put her hands on my shoulders and put her head next to mine.

"Please, Nessie. For me? It's a musical." Her voice rose as if that might change my decision.

"Madison, I really don't care."

"Please, Nessie. At least try out. Trying out doesn't guarantee that you'll make the play."

"I'd rather not risk it."

"Please, Nessie." Madison gave me her best puppy dog eyes that she knew didn't work on me anyway.

"Madison, I'm putting my foot down on this, okay. No, play." She sighed.

"Oh, alright."

"Thank you, Madison." She shrugged and she was wearing a long face. I tried not to let myself feel bad. Me, Aida, and Madison walked to the gym and got ready to play indoor baseball.

Watching Aida play baseball was without a doubt, the funniest thing I'd ever seen. When it was her turn to bat, she took the plate and went into position just as everyone before her had done. But when the pitcher threw the ball, Aida kept missing it. You could see the anger growing in her face as she kept trying to hit the ball. In any normal game of baseball, she would have been long out by now. But couch Clapp and couch Randal wanted everyone to hit the ball at least once. But the angrier Aida got at the pitcher and the ball, the funnier she was. After a good three minutes of Aida trying to hit the ball, someone on her team walked up behind her. I think his name was Kendal.

"Hey, Aida, maybe you should let one of us bat." Aida glared at Kendal.

"I can hit it, damn it!!!" Then she muttered _mother fucking douche bag fucktard shitter ball_ under her breath. I fought to not laugh out loud.

With the more attempted hits that Aida made at the ball, the more creative her insults were getting. Eventually, my laughing was muffled, but audible. Aida would glare at me from the corner of her eye, then look back at the pitcher. But finally, after five painful minutes, Aida hit the ball and it came right to me. It was mostly rolling on the ground to me as she ran to first base. I didn't bother trying to throw it to the first baseman. I figured after all that, Aida deserved to get to first base.

When class was over, everyone rushed to the locker rooms and got dressed. A lot of people were anxious to get out of school for today. First off, it was Friday. Secondly, it was Valentine's Day today. I smiled to myself. Jacob and I hadn't seen each other this morning, but I knew he had something planned. Daddy and the others had already given me roses and teddy bears this morning for which I thanked them for. But it was Jacob's gift I was looking the most forward to. It wasn't even the gift I really cared about. What I cared about was the fact that Jacob and I would be having an actual Valentine's Day. Not a 'just friends' Valentine's Day, but a real one.

Jacob had done patrol last night so he could trade off with Embry and it be fair, so there were no worries there. And after Aro and Caius were killed, vampire passerbies were almost none existent these days. But he did have to work a little later today, so he was picking me up from the house as soon as he got off work. Daddy had picked me up from school today.

"So what exactly does Jacob have planned for tonight?" Daddy chuckled.

"You know I'm not going to tell you."

"Just thought I'd ask." We laughed together a little more before he asked me about my day. He got a little annoyed with me when I showed him Aida's little baseball mishap.

"Where does that girl get this stuff?" I shrugged.

"You'd know better than me, daddy." He huffed a laugh.

"I don't think I care enough to be willing to listen to her thoughts, Nessie." I giggled.

"I'd say that's a wise choice on your part." Daddy and I laughed together and he nodded in agreement.

When we got home, I asked daddy to come play the piano with me. I asked momma to join us too. She joined happily and watched daddy and I play a complicated composition together and momma rested her head against daddy's shoulder as she watched. An hour after we started playing, Rosalie came in with Emmett and started joining us. Rosalie sat next to me on the space left on the bench and Emmett stood behind her and was playing with both my hair and Rosalie's. Hers more so.

"You know what I just thought of?" Daddy chuckled.

"Yes, I do. And what do the backstreet boys have to do with us playing the piano?" Daddy already knew, but I think Emmett just wanted the opportunity to say it out loud.

"I remember when Rosalie used to play backstreet boy songs on the piano all the time. I already didn't like them. The repetition made me hate them more." Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"I don't care what any of you say, I liked them. Their music was catchy." Emmett laughed.

"It was a frooffy boy band that aimed at young audiences. There were five year olds dreaming of calling themselves Mrs. Nick Carter." I giggled. Rosalie shrugged.

"It's no different than the millions of girls that dreamed of calling themselves Mrs. Jonathon Davis. Seriously, woman start riots over that man." I smiled.

"Because Jonathon Davis is the only man to ever look good in dreadlocks. And he's just that hott." Emmett laughed.

"I remember that one chick we went to school with in '98. MandyKorn? Remember her?" Rosalie smirked.

"Even with human memory, how could you forget her?" I looked at them about to ask, but daddy answered my thoughts.

"No, Nessie that wasn't her real name. Her real name was Matilda Meyors. That was the nickname she gave herself was all." Emmett nodded.

"Yeah. She was one of those over the top fans, Nessie."

"You mean the ones that have Korn tattooed all over their body and have pictures of them all over their room and have a notebook filled with her name combined with Jon's kind of fans?" Emmett smirked.

"She didn't have the notebook thing, but her room was covered in Korn posters."

"Not to mention she had a picture of him standing next to a wedding dress with her head on it." Emmett laughed harder at daddy's addition.

"Oh, yeah. That's the way Kelly Hamilton was with Justin Timberlake when he was a member of Nsync. She always wore a T-shirt with his face on it. It was disturbing."

"I bet." Emmett smiled at me with his cocky smile, then lowered his head to Rosalie's ear. Daddy laughed lightly to himself and shook his head.

"Am I original?" Rosalie smirked and nodded. "Am I the only one?" Rosalie nodded. "Am I sexual?" She laughed at that and nodded. "Am I everything you need? You better rock your body now." Then Emmett grabbed a hold of Rosalie from behind and carried her out of the room. As he carried her away, he started softly singing the rest of the chorus to that song. I laughed and rolled my eyes. Momma laughed too.

"That's an interesting way to start something." Daddy laughed at momma's joke and kissed her cheek.

**JPOV**

"Can you finish this on your own?" I asked Andy. He looked especially out of it today, so I wasn't sure if I should let him fix the engine on his own. But I told Nessie that I would pick her up at seven, so that meant seven. Andy laughed.

"I'm surprised you trust me to finish." I shrugged.

"I don't, really. I just have a date tonight and I don't want to be late." Andy gave me a look.

"A date, huh? With who?" I gave Andy a humored critical look.

"None of your business." Andy smirked.

"Aw, come on, Jake. You can tell me. I won't judge."

"You're in no position to judge." Andy shrugged.

"Exactly." I laughed and sighed.

"Fine. It's with Nessie."

"Who?" I rolled my eyes.

"Nessie. I bring her to the shop every now and then. Bronze hair, brown eyes." Andy's eyes became aware.

"You mean the girl that grew boobs and height over night?" I looked at Andy with a blank stare for a moment before I said anything.

"It wasn't over night." Hell, who was I kidding? It was. The night before when I hugged her, flat as a board. The next morning, there were boobs. That part of her growth spurt was like a punch to the face. "And yes, that girl." Andy nodded, then his face became confused.

"Wait…..how old is she?" I stiffened for a moment. I should have expected this. He didn't notice me stiffen, so I sighed and gave him the first thing that came to mind.

"Eighteen."

"Are you sure?" Now I was a little annoyed and I knew that it showed.

"Of course I'm sure. I was there when she was born." Andy still looked like he didn't believe me.

"Okay, so she's eighteen. And you're how old?"

"Twenty one." Then his face turned to sincere shock.

"You're only twenty one?" I nodded.

"Yeah. How old did you think I was?"

"I thought you were, like, twenty eight or something. Jesus, boy, what did your mother feed you?" I laughed a little under my breath.

"Lots of mac'n cheese. The craft cheddar made me grow like a weed." Andy's face stayed confused for the most part, obviously not catching my sarcasm. I sighed. "It runs in the family." He nodded.

"Why didn't you just say that?" I shook my head and rubbed my temples.

"Never mind. I'm leaving, okay. Try not to break anything." Andy smirked and nodded.

"And now that you've asked me not to, I will, in fact, break something." I rolled my eyes as I walked out of the shop.

"If you do, I'm throwing you under the bus, you got that? I'm not getting in trouble because a pothead messed up the car."

"Fuck you, dude." I laughed and opened the door out of the shop and into the waiting area. Amanda smiled and waved at me. Then she motioned for me to come over to where she was. I took a calming breath and walked over.

"Yeah, Amanda?" She smirked.

"What are you up to tonight?" I shrugged.

"I have a date." Her face only marginally lost some enthusiasm.

"Do you know when the date will be over?" I shrugged.

"Not until tomorrow." Her face fell slightly again. In reality, I was taking Nessie camping for Valentine's Day. We hadn't been camping since Dorian had taken her. The pack and I hadn't found anything and I wanted to do something nice for her. She liked camping, anyway. But let Amanda come to her own conclusion, I guess.

"Well that's a shame. I was going to ask if you wanted to go out tonight." I shook my head and took the sign-out sheet from the desk.

"Nope. I'm busy." When I'd written my name, I went into the back room and got my jacket and went outside to my car.

I had everything that we needed in the trunk of my car, including Nessie's things. Allison had packed everything for me and had put it in my car before I'd left to go home last night. Edward let me use the camping equipment that they'd collected over the years and helped me get it in the trunk. Edward was really good at stacking things in a way to force them to fit and stay out of sight. I think he could stuff an Elephant in my trunk and I'd never know.

I drove as fast as I could out of Seattle and made the normally three hour trip in one hour. As promised, I finally arrived at the house at seven and waited outside for Nessie. I saw her and Edward at the door as I waited for her. My windows were closed, so I didn't hear what they were saying. When they were done talking, Nessie kissed Edwards cheek and waved goodbye as she walked over to my car. I smiled a little. Edward always got a proud, funny look on his face whenever Nessie said daddy. I sighed when I saw Nessie.

She was wearing plan jeans and her slipknot t-shirt. Alice probably warned her not to dress up. When she reached my car, she had a big, bright smile on her face. She opened the car door and slipped in far enough to reach over and give me a quick kiss. I kissed her back and smiled.

"I was told not to wear heels. Where are we going?" I laughed. I started driving away before answering her.

"I was thinking we could go camping." Her face lit up.

"Camping? Really? We haven't been camping in years." I nodded awkwardly. I hated remembering the reason why.

"Yeah, I know. It took some persuading, but I got Edward to let me do it. And I promise, nothing will happen this time." She smiled at me.

"You don't have to go on patrol tonight or anything do you?" I shook my head.

"Nope. I'm all yours." She giggled sweetly.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." We smiled at each other and laughed at her comment.

When I was on the highway, I drove west in the direction of that meadow. It was a really pretty place when you took the time to appreciate it. I'd only been to this meadow twice before. First time was when I'd saved Bella. Second time was the first time I'd ever taken Nessie camping. I would make sure that nothing happened this time, even if a vampire did happen to show up.

It didn't take us long to get to the meadow. When we arrived, we set up camp and I started making a fire pit. I'd brought wood with us that I'd gathered from the beach. I liked what the ocean salt did to the fire when we burned the wood. Alice said that it would be rainy throughout the day in Forks, so rain where we were was highly possible. On the drive over and while we were setting up, Nessie told me all about her day, and I talked about mine. I laughed when she told me about Aida. I laughed harder when she showed me the incident. Her description of her conversation with Madison before was vague, though.

"So Madison's asked you to try out for the school play?" Nessie nodded.

"Yeah. Wherefore Art thou is the title, it's based on the Civil War and it's pretty much an American version of the Scarlet Pimpernel."

"The what?"

"The Scarlet Pimpernel. It's a story about an Englishman during the French Revolution who freed a couple French aristocrats from the guillotine. He was married to a French woman, but he acted like a fool in front of her to protect his identity and stuff. She finds out in the end that her husband is actually the Scarlet Pimpernel and that's what rekindles their love." I laughed under my breath and smirked.

"No offense, but it sounds kind of stupid." Nessie shrugged.

"I agree honestly. I've seen the Scarlet Pimpernel and I like that, but the play sounds too much like a really cheesy imitation." I laughed.

"Even the Quileute school plays weren't that weird. We just did Shakespeare and The King and I. Or something like that." She shrugged.

"Does the Quileute School have a creative writing committee?" I gave Nessie a weird look.

"No."

"That's probably why you didn't do, 'independent plays'."

"What?" She sighed.

"That's what they're called. It's when students join a club in the school and do creative writing, like short stories and poetry and stuff. Then twice a year they all make up their own play which they present to the school, who are all required to go."

"Why are you required to go?"

"Because no one would go otherwise." I laughed.

"Good point." She smiled at me and I smiled back. She walked over to where I was and I stood straight from where I was crouched at the fire pit I was making. When Nessie was right in front of me, she wrapped her arms around my waist and I held her to me in return.

"I really don't want to be in that play." I laughed and rested my cheek on the top of her head.

"Then don't." I felt her smile.

"I won't." With that, Nessie lifted her head from my chest and went on her tip toes to kiss me. I leaned forward the rest of the way and kissed her back. When our lips touched, I lifted her up with me when I straightened out and held her off the ground while I kissed her. Then she ended the kiss and rested her head on her little nook. "Madison's going to do something. I just know it." I sighed.

"If she does, you can always sneak her behind a curtain and drink her blood." She giggled at my joke.

"And you'd be okay with that?" I shrugged.

"With her, no. I've got to be honest, Nessie. Madison freaks me out." She giggled again.

"And Aida doesn't?"

"She does too. Madison just freaks me out more. At least Aida has some respect for other people's personal boundaries. Whether she cares or not."

"Believe me, she's more concerned about her own personal space. As long as people don't touch her, she's okay." Then, suddenly, Nessie lifted her head from her nook and looked into my eyes. She had an amused sparkle in her eyes. "I didn't tell you."

"You didn't tell me what?" She smiled wider.

"One time, when Aida and I were walking to gym, one of the other girls from our science class ran into her and glared at Aida for it. So when we were in gym, she pitched the baseball at her head." I gave Nessie a shocked stare.

"And she got away with that?" Nessie giggled and shook her head.

"I never said she got away with it. She had Saturday and Sunday school for it." I started laughing with her. It sounded like something that Aida would do.

"I'm amazed you never told me that." She shrugged and gave me a peck.

"I had other things on my mind." I smirked back at her with her words. Then I kissed her again. "That and the girl from gym made everyone promise not to tell anyone about it."

"And you agreed to that?" She shrugged.

"Up until now. The whole school knows about it of course. Coralline told her friends, Matt and Kevin told their friends, and so on and so forth. And by the next day, everyone was talking about it as if they'd actually been there. Then again, that's not far from the truth." I laughed at that.

"The beauty of a small school where everyone knows you, right?" She giggled and nodded her head. Once I let her down, she helped me finish setting up the fire pit and lay out some of the fire wood.

When we had everything at the camp set up and ready, I took Nessie to the trail and we started hiking. I held her hand for most of the trail and only let go to grab a more secure hold of her so I could lift her over a large fallen tree or a large rock. I knew she didn't really need my help, but it made me feel good to be able to do something to help her.

Half way through the hike, Nessie decided she didn't feel like walking anymore, and without warning, she let go of my hand and leaped onto my back and tucked her head between my head and shoulder with her arms wrapped around my neck. I grabbed hold of her legs to keep her secure and make sure she didn't fall. As soon as she was secure and steady on my back, she kissed and nuzzled my neck.

"You're so lazy sometimes, you know that?" She giggled and nodded her head, making her nose nuzzle my neck too.

"Can't be helped I suppose." I smiled and looked over my shoulder at her, our noses touching.

"I hope you don't plan on going back to camp this way."

"Why? Are you saying you wouldn't do this again?" She said teasingly. "I thought you didn't mind carrying me." I shrugged.

"It's not that I mind. It's more or less the principle of the matter." She sighed.

"Is that so?" I smirked.

"Yes, that's so." She sighed again and shook her head.

"Wow. There used to be a time when men would hold open doors for ladies they didn't even know. Now, suddenly, a girlfriend can't even rely on her boyfriend to carry her. Honestly, what is this world coming to?" I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Shut up, man eater." She gasped and pretended to be offended.

"And now he tells me to shut up and insults me! How dare you mutt?" I was laughing as she 'yelled' at me. I grabbed hold of her arms and gently, but still quickly, spun her around on my waist so that she was facing me. I held onto her tightly while still letting my hands travel along her back. She locked her ankles behind my back and kept a tight hold with her arms around my neck. We smiled at each other as we both got our laughter under control.

"Because I'm just that cool." She stared at me for a moment with shocked, humored, and confused eyes. I forced myself to keep a straight face. Eventually, she just started laughing. I smirked as she laughed at my joke.

Finally, she giggled one last time and sighed. She brought her arms from around my neck so that her hands were both on my cheeks. When her hands held my face, she brought her lips closer to mine and both our eyes closed when our lips touched. It was sweet and innocent at first. It was simply our lips gently moving together.

But Nessie deepened the kiss. She took her lips away, then changed the angle of her head and took my top lip into her mouth. I did the same to her bottom lip and let one of my hands trail up her spin, her neck, then up into her hair. She sighed when my fingers started to thread through her hair and she actually sucked on my top lip. I breathed in sharply and did the same to her bottom lip.

I changed the angle again and licked her bottom lip. She complied, and opened her mouth to let me in. When our tongues met, she ran her fingers up my face and through my hair as we moved together. I started moving my feet forward for whatever reason as we kissed. It was slowly, but I was still moving.

Nessie didn't seem to pay any attention to that as our kiss remained passionate. Her nails were scratching my scalp as our lips moved, and I couldn't stop a groan. She smiled when she heard that. And I could feel a blush when I started to feel a pleasurable pain in my loins. I needed to stop this before we went too far. I didn't want to. I forced my mouth away from hers and we looked at each other when our lips no longer touched.

The look in her eyes made the pleasurable pain greater. She looked dazed and aroused. I could hear her heartbeat as I was sure she could hear mine. We were both breathing a little heavier than usual, and I couldn't imagine the look that I must've had on my face. I imagined that it wasn't much different from the look on hers. Finally, she smiled at me, making the subtle sparkle of her skin even more beautiful. I smiled in return.

"I love you, you know that." I said. Her smile widened.

"It never hurts to hear it said again." I laughed lightly with her.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Jacob." She kissed me again, then rested her head on her nook. I held onto her a little tighter and looked back down the trail. I had already been walking really slowly. Now I sped up slightly down the trail to find the end of the trail that I was looking for.

I'd found this place a long time ago. It was a wooded area that had uniquely shaped trees. All the trees were curved and twisted around one another to form natural arches and even a natural gazebo. Above me when I'd last been there, were a roof of leaves. And the trunks and branches of the trees spun around each other to form the open walls. It was about forty feet around and was green all over. It reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings. Like a place you'd see in the woods where the elves lived.

I hoped that she would like it when she saw it. It wouldn't be as green as it was the summer I'd found it. February wasn't a very pleasant hiking month in Washington. But I'd checked on it the night before to make sure that it would be okay. It was still beautiful enough that I was sure she would love it when she finally saw it.

"Where are we going?" She asked me after we'd traveled for a mile without talking.

"Some place that I think you will like."

"Well that narrows it down, doesn't it?" I laughed at her sarcasm and she only smiled into her nook. "Does that mean it's a surprise?" I nodded.

"Yes. But it won't be a secret for much longer. We're only a mile away." She sighed.

"If you say so." I smiled at her and she smiled back.

As I had promised, we only walked a mile farther before I started seeing the marks that showed we were near the place I wanted to take her to. She started looking around at the tree tops and the trees. She looked at me questioningly when she noticed the silly smile I was wearing when we were close. She smiled back at me and kissed my chin. Then she rested her head on my shoulder again and waited patiently for me to tell her we had arrived.

I think she knew we'd arrived when she saw the arch that the woods made naturally. She looked at me and I just smiled at her. I gestured for her to look forward at the spot we were approaching. She did as I asked and looked ahead.

I looked forward as well as we came closer and closer to the meadow I wanted to show her. When I crossed through the natural arch and into the meadow, I looked at Nessie to see her reaction. I saw her smiling and looking around at the beauty and intricacy of nature. The moon was able to shine through the small openings in the tree tops. Then she looked at me.

"So this is what you wanted to show me?" I nodded.

"What do you think?" She looked around again.

"It's beautiful." She looked back at me again. "When did you find this?"

"I found it last year. Over the summer. I've always wanted to show it to you. Now seemed like the best time to do it."

"You mean because it's Valentine's Day?" I nodded.

"I was hoping that your first memory of this place could be a romantic one." She smiled and kissed my chin again.

"It's beautiful." She let go of me so she could put her feet on the ground. I let go of her when she was balanced. "So what's the romantic part?" I laughed again. I didn't take my eyes off of her as I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the long box I'd had there the whole time. I held it out to her as she looked at it.

"Take it." She looked at me briefly, then back at the box before taking it out of my hand. She brushed her thumb along it a moment before she finally opened it.

She smiled when she saw the bracelet. I'd gotten it a week before today. It was a band of white gold that shaped itself into vines with emeralds running along it to make vines and rubies to form the flowers. She looked at me with tears looking like they would form in her eyes.

"That's quite a romantic moment you've made, Jacob Black." I grinned from ear to ear when she said that.

She looked back at the bracelet again. Then she lifted her hand up slightly so she could take it out of the box. When she had a grip on the bracelet, I reached out to take the box and she handed it to me, not taking her eyes off the bracelet. I bent down slightly so we were face to face as she tried to get it clasped around her wrist. She picked the wrist that also held the woven bracelet I'd given her for her first Christmas. I wondered if she knew exactly what that bracelet represented.

I took her wrist in my hands and clasped the bracelet for her. She smiled when it was clasped and I smiled back. My thumb was caressing her hand gently. She brought her other hand up and she put it over my hand, which held hers. Her hands were warm in mine. Then she took her hands out of mine and took off her backpack. I watched her reached into her backpack and then pull out a large and tall, slightly rectangular box.

She held it out to me and only smiled, asking me to take it. I took the box from her hand and looked at it a moment. I looked at her again and she only smiled wider and nodded her head. I looked at the box as I opened it. When it was open, it revealed a watch. It looked like a platinum watch. The face itself had a picture. It was a picture that was clear and bright of a russet colored wolf howling at the moon for his pack to come. I realized that it was me. I looked at Nessie with surprised and happy eyes.

"How'd you do this?" She shrugged.

"Remember when I went with you on one of your patrols and I took a picture of you?" I nodded. "Well, I told the jeweler that it was just a computerized picture and asked him to make that picture the face of the watch. Look on the back."

After looking at her a moment, I took out the watch and looked on the back as she asked me to. On the back of the watch was an inscription. In English, it repeated my words to her. _'With all that I am' Renesmee_. I looked at Nessie and she was smiling almost shyly, but still proud. I smiled back and put the watch on my left wrist like she had done with her bracelet. I clasped it and looked at it for a moment, simply admiring it.

"Do you like it?" I looked at her hopeful eyes when I heard her voice and smiled wider. I kneeled down and took her into my arms, lifting her up with me as I stood up straight. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I kissed her. She smiled as I kissed her.

"It's perfect, Renesmee." She smiled wider again.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Renesmee. With all that I am." She smiled before she crushed her lips to mine and kissed me. I kissed her back with the same passion. My hands immediately started running through her hair and her hands did the same. I breathed in her sweet scent and it made my head spin.

Nessie suddenly threw herself backwards with all her strength, pulling me down with her, never letting go of me. I spun around so that I was the one that landed on my back and she smiled sweetly at me. She gave me a pecking kiss.

"That was sweet of you. Landing on your back so I wouldn't have to." She kissed me again. "Such a gentleman." I laughed and she did too. I rubbed her cheeks with my thumbs.

"That's me." She smiled wider.

"Sure is." Then she brought her lips to mine again in a kiss. This kiss was much gentler, but still just as passionate. She was straddling my stomach now and I let my hands travel from her face down to her back and hips as we kissed.

Her hands went from my face to my chest and shoulders. Her hair was tied back in a half ponytail. The hair that was free hung loose and draped over her shoulders and onto mine.

I heard her sigh into my mouth as we kissed. I was feeling the pleasing pain again. I tried to get up to stop, but Nessie wouldn't have it. When I tried to move, she forced me down again. Admittedly, she didn't need to push too hard. I wondered if she knew what she was doing to me. It wouldn't surprise me if she did.

She tasted just as she smelled. It was a pleasant and sweet fruity taste. It reminded me of candy or ice cream. I held onto her tighter and I turned both of us around. She giggled when her back was on the ground and I was on top. Our lips weren't parted for long.

We brought our lips back together and continued where we left off. Both my arms were now resting on either side of her face and her hands trailed under my arms and to my back, where they ran up and down. I could feel her nails through the thin fabric of my t-shirt. The sensation I felt from it made me shiver, but in pleasure. She smiled when she felt it. I even smiled. Our lips parted then, but I didn't want to stop. I started kissing her along her jaw and down her neck. She sighed again when I was on her neck. When I came closer to her ear, she shuddered just as I had. I couldn't help the pride I felt at that moment. She gasped lightly and giggled again when I sucked on her ear, playing with the diamond stud with my tongue.

"Jacob." It was a quiet utterance, but it didn't lesson the effect it had on me. I could feel myself getting hard. I know she noticed. She didn't seem to mind in the least.

We were both startled and brought back to reality when we heard Metallica start playing. We looked at each other as the song played. I realized it was my phone. _The Unforgiven II_. That was the ring tone I had set for Quil. Nessie smiled at me reassuringly, letting me know it was okay to answer. I grunted as I rolled off of Nessie and reached into my pocket to get my phone. I lifted myself to sit up and Nessie followed after me, putting her hand on my knee. I opened my phone to answer and tried to keep my tone light.

"What is it Quil?" I heard people crying in the background. I wondered what was going on. When Quil answered me, his voice was shaky.

"_You need to come back, Jacob. Something serious happened."_

**RPOV**

I was smiling as Jacob reached into his pocket to get his phone. He looked really aggravated. It was kind of cute in its own right. Especially when I knew he was annoyed because we'd been interrupted while we were in the middle of something so private. I had known we were going farther than we should have been, but I hadn't cared anymore. Jacob kept a calm voice when he spoke into his phone.

"What is it Quil?" He listened, then his face became concerned. Quil's voice was too shaky coming from the receiver. I was amazed Jacob could hear him. All I heard were mumbles. "What do you mean something serious happened? What's wrong?"

Quil, still with a shaky and hardly understandable voice, told Jacob the news he had. As Jacob listened, his face changed from concern, to shock, to disbelief. He started to shake his head gently at whatever Quil was saying, refusing to believe whatever he was being told.

"Are you serious? When did this happen?" Jacob's voice was shaky now. This time, in a much clearer, though still pained voice, I heard Quil respond, _this afternoon._

I lifted my hand to Jacob's arm and started caressing his bicep with my thumb, hoping that it would help. Jacob face became a mask of pain. It wasn't the pained look I remembered from any of the times I'd said something hurtful to him, but it was pained none the less. His eyes started wondering aimlessly. I stood on my knees beside him.

"Jacob?" Jacob didn't respond to me. He just nodded.

"Alright. I'm on my way. Bye." Jacob then hung up his phone. He stared ahead blankly for a moment. Then he stood up without saying a word and started walking back towards the trail. "We need to get back. Let's go."

I honestly felt that if stone could talk, it would sound the way Jacob's voice sounded now. It was emotionless. Hard and cold. Nothing like the usual happiness that I loved hearing in his voice. I followed after Jacob as we went through the woods. After just walking for a few minutes, Jacob became aggravated with our pace and turned around and walked to me. His face was as blank as his voice had been as he came over and lifted me into his arms. When I was there, he ran off as fast as he could, bordering on how fast daddy could run. Jacob was much faster in his wolf form, but I suspected now wasn't the time to bother with that.

When we reached the camp in a forth of the time it had taken us to reach the meadow Jacob had wanted to show me, he put me down and started packing everything up without a word. I helped him take things down and stuff them in the trunk of the rabbit. Jacob still wouldn't say anything to me, no matter how many times I asked him what was wrong.

Once everything was in his car and ready to go, he drove us out of the forest and back onto the highway to make his way to La Push. He was dead silent the whole drive back. We didn't even have the music on. Jacob's face never changed from the twist of pain that it held. I stopped trying to talk to him. He wasn't answering me anyway.

Eventually, Jacob got off at an exit, but not the one I thought we would get off at. He started making his way to the Forks Hospital. I started getting really nervous. What happened? Who was hurt? I looked at Jacob. I touched my hand to his arm and pushed my questions into his mind. When I had, he took in a sharp breath like he was in pain and then looked like he wasn't breathing at all.

Jacob was driving way too fast, but I didn't pay attention to that. He slowed the car to eighty when we reached the hospital and swerved his way into a spot closest to the door, slammed on the breaks, turned off the car, and started running to the hospital without even locking his car or saying a word to me. I locked the car for him before I ran into the hospital after him, not knowing what was going on.

When I got into the hospital, I couldn't find Jacob. I did find a few of the other pack members, all of whom were covering their faces or forcing themselves not to cry. The women were already sobbing uncontrollably. Sam was holding Emily close to him while she cried and his face looked like that of a deer in the headlights. I saw daddy there, too. But no one else from my family was there. Only daddy. He was walking towards me before I'd even made it through the hospital doors.

"What's happened?" Daddy's face was a little sad, but not as heartbroken as everyone else was.

"Come outside, Renesmee. We need to talk." I began thinking the worst. Was something wrong with Billy? Or grandpa? "I'll tell you about it when we get outside." Daddy was walking to me and put his hand on my shoulder to lead me out of the hospital.

We walked over to where Jacob's car was. I wasn't sure why daddy would take me this far away, but I wanted answers, so I wasn't really in the mood to ask for reasoning behind what he was doing. When we reached Jacob's car, daddy turned around to face me and sighed.

"Nothing's wrong with Billy or Charlie. Billy's in the room with Kiowa and her family. Charlie is taking a statement from Carl." Kiowa. The name sounded familiar. Not only because it was the name of a character from _**All The Things They Carried**_. I had met a girl named Kiowa that lived on the Quileute Reservation.

"What happened daddy?" Daddy sighed.

"Kiowa was a good friend of Jacob's. They'd gone to school together and had known each other since they were children."

"That doesn't tell me what happened." Daddy's face became stern.

"Don't take that tone with me Nessie. Now isn't the time to be a smart ass." I stayed silent. Daddy continued when I had stayed silent for a few moments. "Kiowa's older sister, Brianne, had a daughter, Stacy. Brianne's ex-boyfriend had recently been released from jail and was visiting them.

"Brianne tells her ex-boyfriend, Carl, that Stacy isn't his child. How that came up isn't really important. Anyway, he was angry about the news and took out his knife and stabbed all her family members, excluding her and Stacy. Kiowa managed to give Carl a few stab wounds in his arm before she couldn't fight him off anymore and Charlie and his team finally arrived.

"Her grandmother and grandfather were found dead at the scene. Her mother and Kiowa were still grasping to their lives by a thread. The mother is finally stabilized and Brianne and the baby are alright. But Kiowa didn't survive. She passed away a half hour ago."

I just looked at daddy, not sure what to say. I remembered Kiowa. I didn't know her very well, but I liked what I did know. She was always nice and was really talkative. I remember always seeing a smile on her face and always laughing with her friends, including Jacob. He even confessed to me that she was the one that had given him some of the blonde jokes he told to Rosalie.

"Oh." I felt like an idiot, but it was the only thing I could think of to say.

"Everyone's shaken up about this, especially Jacob. All I can say, honey, is that you need to be there for him. That's really all you can do at this point." Daddy and I looked at each other for a good few minutes, not really saying anything. Eventually, I held my head down and nodded. "Good. Now let's go back in and wait for Jacob." I nodded and followed after daddy back into the hospital.

The scene hadn't changed at all when we came back. Everyone was still crying or staring forward in disbelief. I wanted to say something to them, but I decided against it. I had never dealt with something like this before and I didn't know what to say or even how to relate to what they were going through right now. Even daddy at least had an idea of what they were going through. All he had to do was remember what it had felt like when he'd thought he'd lost momma.

Daddy and I took a seat in the waiting room with everyone else and sat next to Sam and Emily. Mikey and Katie weren't crying. I don't think they understood the seriousness of the situation. Mikey was of course only three years old. And Katie was a newborn baby. Allison Shea wasn't either. Jared had tears in his eyes and Kim was sobbing. I could almost feel their pain. I wondered what it would be like to be Jasper in a situation like this. I shuddered at the thought.

I tried to avoid looking at everyone. Their pain was too much to bear looking at. I tried staring at the clock for a while, but that was even worse. The hands went by so slowly and were actually louder when they did move. I felt like the clock was making fun of me. With nothing else to occupy my eyes, I stared at my hands as they twiddled. Daddy had his arm around me. The cold embrace made it seem a lot less dreary.

Finally, when it was eleven thirty, four hours after we'd arrived, daddy rubbed my shoulder gently to get my attention.

"Honey, Jacob and Charlie are coming down." I looked at daddy. He knew my question and motioned his head in the direction I needed to be looking in.

I waited another five minutes before they came into sight, but when I saw Jacob, my heart was in pain and I felt like my stomach had sunk to the bottom of my stomach. His face was just as blank as it had been before. But now it had an angry undertone instead of a sad one. I wondered why that might be. Jacob didn't even look at me. He almost jogged out of the hospital and made his way to his car. I stood up about to follow after him, but daddy held me where I was, and I was forced to watch Jacob speed away. I heard grandpa sigh and I looked at him. I walked over to him and pulled him with me into one of the hallways for some minimal privacy. Grandpa didn't look surprised. He let me pull him with me and I spoke when I was satisfied with the spot we had.

"What happened? What's wrong with Jacob?" Grandpa looked at me a moment.

"Your dad told you what happened right?" I nodded. "Well, Jacob spent most of the night in Kiowa's room with her sister. But a few minutes ago, Jacob left her room and came to where I was interrogating Carl Jarvis, the man who had attacked the family.

"Jacob had already known Carl from high school. Carl and Brianne were seniors when he was a freshman. Carl went to Forks high school, but that's beyond the point. Anyway, Jacob let himself into the interrogation room and started yelling at Carl. Carl was already injured from the wounds he'd received from Kiowa, so we couldn't let Jacob near him. It took eight officers to hold Jacob back. I had to escort him out of the hospital on order of Carl's lawyer."

"He's not going to press charges is he?" Grandpa shook his head.

"He's not really in a position to. He has three counts of homicide, attempted homicide, and aggravated assault against him. And if Kiowa's mother doesn't make it, that'll turn into four counts of homicide. Besides, Jacob never actually attacked him. The other officers and I were somehow able to make sure he didn't. I have to tell you, though, it was like holding back a lawn mower. I've never felt a person shake that much from anger."

I felt another shudder go down my spine. What if Jacob had fazed while he was here? I couldn't even imagine what would have happened. I knew that grandpa had seen Jacob do it once before, but that didn't mean he was in a position to explain that to the other officers. Grandpa had refused to hear any real details about Jacob's fazing. And even with the entire pack here, I doubt they would have been able to hold Jacob back in their human forms alone. Grandpa took me out of my daze.

"Nessie." I looked at grandpa again. "Jacob is really upset about this. I know that you want to help him and everything, Nessie. But I suggest you just let him be alone for a few days, or at least until the funeral. It's this Sunday." I nodded.

"Thanks grandpa." Grandpa smiled at me and hugged me. I hugged him back.

"I better get back upstairs. I still have some questioning to do." I nodded and smiled awkwardly.

"Okay. Thanks grandpa." He smiled just as awkwardly and patted my head.

"You're welcome, Nessie." After that, grandpa let go of me and started walking to the elevator so he could go back to where they were holding the man responsible.

Without a word, daddy took my hand and took me with him to where he'd parked his car. I looked at everyone again before leaving. No one had stopped crying. Sam was even beginning to cry now. I think he'd just been in shock the first few hours and it seemed to just now really be sinking in. When we got into the car and started driving away, I looked at daddy and thought my question. He sighed.

"He needs to be alone right now, Nessie. I know you're worried about him, but nows not the time."

"But I can't just not be there."

"Honey, it's what he needs right now. He needs time to vent and let out all that built up anger. I don't want you to be in that line of fire, whether he would mean to bring it out on you or not."

"But daddy."

"No buts Nessie. Give him time." I looked at daddy a minute, but didn't argue any further with him. I wasn't in the mood to argue, not after tonight.

We were bombarded with questions when we finally got back. Momma was asking me if Jacob was alright and how everyone was doing. I told her what little I knew and daddy told her just about everything that I didn't know. Alice and Jasper were quiet. Emmett and Rosalie didn't say much either. Esme was trying to tell me that everything would be alright and that everyone would be back to normal soon given time. I couldn't stop worrying about Jacob, though. I had a nagging feeling that I should go to him. Daddy never said anything about it, so I assumed that he might have faltered on his decision not to let me go. Again, he said nothing about that conclusion.

Around one in the morning, after I'd done my nightly routine and had gone to bed, I couldn't sleep. I just stared at the ceiling worrying about Jacob. I'd laid in bed for a good hour and a half and I couldn't get myself to sleep. Momma and daddy were in the living room together mumbling to each other. They were talking too softly, so I couldn't hear what they were saying exactly.

I started picturing what happened when Jacob got back home. He was still shaking when he'd left. He probably fazed the minute he was home. That also most likely meant that his car wasn't locked and that his keys were lying around somewhere. And what about his clothes? He couldn't walk around in the parking lot buck naked in the middle of the night.

I'd already thought of what I wanted to do. Daddy knew what I was planning. I waited for him to tell me not to think about it, but I didn't hear him say anything. I just heard him sigh heavily, then explain to momma in a voice I couldn't hear what he was sighing about. I got up out of bed and got dressed back into my slipknot t-shirt and jeans I'd been wearing earlier. I took my license out from the drawer of my vanity and put it in my pocket and hopped out of my room through the window and started running to the garage at the house. Daddy would have something to say to me when I got back home, I knew, but I didn't care. I was concerned as to why he didn't try to tell me to stop thinking about it and go to sleep or told me not to leave my room. It seemed odd for daddy not to act when I was doing something wrong and he knew it.

When I reached the garage, no one came outside to see what I was doing. I found that odd too, but ignored it. I took the first keys I grabbed off the key hanger and pressed the button that unlocked the car. I ended up taking the keys to Emmett's Jeep. I hopped into the car and spent what felt like forever trying to adjust the seat so that I could reached the pedals and see over the dashboard.

When the car was ready and started up, I drove the car out of the garage and got onto the highway as fast as I could. Once again, I knew daddy would have something to say when I got home. He'd told me that I wasn't allowed to drive until after my birthday my sophomore year of school. But now wasn't the time to worry about that.

I was driving a lot faster than I should have been. I was lucky that there weren't any cops out tonight. Most of them were probably still at the hospital or taking that guy into custody if they haven't already. In Emmett's Jeep, I was pushing going two hundred miles an hour. I hadn't even noticed I was going that fast until I was a few feet away from Jacob's building and needed to practically slam on the breaks to slow down enough for me to turn into the parking lot.

I parked the Jeep right next to Jacob's car. I got out, never having put on my seatbelt, and walked around to the driver's side of Jacob's car. I saw his clothes torn on the ground. He must have fazed the moment he was out of his car. I really hoped that no one saw him. I started picking up his clothes so I could take them in. I felt something metal and was a little confused. Then I saw what it was and choked up. It was the platinum watch I'd given him today. The glass to the face of the watch was cracked from hitting a rock and the band to it was broken into several pieces.

I looked at the broken watch and felt tears start to form in my eyes. I brushed them away before they could run down my cheek. I picked up all the pieces and went to the building and let myself in. When I was in Jacob's apartment, I went to his room and placed the shredded pieces of his clothes on his bed. I put his broken watch on the night stand in the order that they were supposed to be together. Then I went into Jacob's closet and got a pair of pants and a shirt to take out.

When I had everything, I went back outside to wait for Jacob to come back. After waiting for longer than I had anticipated waiting, I unlocked the rabbit and got into the driver's seat to wait for him more comfortably. I figured if I was going to worry, I'd be comfortable doing it. I turned on the car enough so that the engine wasn't running, but the clock was on. I was shocked when I saw the time. It was 3:45 in the morning. I sighed.

I sat there in silence for a while, just looking at the woods, waiting for Jacob to come back. When it turned four, I caved and turned on the radio. I put it on Kiss FM and listened to the music that was on. I still couldn't fall asleep. I just stared at the woods blankly. Finally, at 5:30 in the morning, I thought I saw something move in the bushes and I turned off the car. I got out of the car and squinted to see if it was Jacob. It was. I went back to the car and took out the clothes and went back and threw them in the general direction Jacob was in. I waited for Jacob to get dressed and sat against the hood of his car. When he was dressed, he walked out of the trees.

"Thanks." That was all he said, and he walked away. I followed after him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not good."

"Do you need anything?"

"No." I got aggravated and ran over to Jacob. I followed after him to his apartment and had to keep up with him and not have the door close before I could get in. When we were in the apartment, Jacob was about to make his way to his room, but I grabbed onto his shoulder to stop him.

"Jacob, talk to me. Even if for just a minute, talk to me!" Jacob turned around and rolled his eyes.

"About what?" I looked at Jacob with apologetic eyes.

"Jacob, I know this hurts. It should never have happened." Jacob looked at the ground.

"No, it shouldn't have."

"But think of it this way. Carl Jarvis has three counts of murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault against him. He won't get away with this." Jacob looked at me then. His eyes were cold and serious.

"Who cares? That won't bring her back." I looked down for a moment and thought about something else. When I had something, I looked up again and tried to be hopeful.

"At least Brianne and her daughter are okay. And her mom's okay too."

"For how long?" I looked at him with a surprised stare. "Her mother was fighting for her life the last time I checked. If her mother dies, Brianne will have lost all of her family. Do you think she'll be okay after something like that? And how do you think her daughter will have a normal life after her mother had an experience like that?"

I looked down again in shame this time. I didn't have an answer to that. I kept breathing, trying to think of something else. I thought of something else and went with it, hoping that it would work.

"Kiowa and her family are in a better place at least." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Does that mean I'll ever get to talk to her again? Will I ever get to listen to her jokes, let her give me advice?" I knew I was going to cry soon. I looked down at the ground, the pain in my chest getting worse. Jacob sighed and turned around to make his way to his room.

"Why are you blaming me for this?" Jacob stopped and turned around to look at me. His face was still angry, and offended.

"What makes you think I'm blaming you for this?"

"Jacob, I'm trying to help you and you keep shooting me down. You're acting like this is my fault." Jacob raised his voice to answer me. It startled me.

"I never said this was your fault!"

"Then why are you treating me like it is?!" We just looked at each other after that. Jacob's eyes never stopped looking angry and I could still feel tears welling up. I knew I looked angry too, though. When Jacob didn't say anything after what felt like hours, I breathed heavily and didn't bother holding back the trail of tears anymore. "I only wanted to help you, Jacob. But since you obviously don't need my help, I think it best if I just leave."

I turned around and started walking as fast as I could out of the apartment. I heard him follow me, but I didn't hear him follow further once I had left his apartment and was out of the building. I dug into my pants pocket to get Emmett's keys and got into the Jeep and drove out of the parking lot as fast as I could.

I was going well over two hundred again as soon as I was on the road. I was half way home in a matter of three minutes of driving. But I was crying and I couldn't drive. I pulled over on the side of the road and just let it loose. I hated crying. But I couldn't stop. I'd never felt so useless in my life. I wanted so much to console him, but nothing I said worked. I felt like he wouldn't let me help him.

I just sat in the car and let myself cry. I don't think I'd ever cried like this before. It wasn't like Jacob and I had never fought before. But this time, I felt as if he'd been pushing me away. I'd never felt that from him before. Sometimes he'd want space to think, yes. But this wasn't him asking for space. This was something else entirely.

After crying for however long it was, I breathed and lifted my head from the steering wheel where it had been rested. I glanced at the clock and was shocked when I saw the time. It was six o'clock in the morning. I couldn't believe I'd been sitting here that long just crying. I thought it'd only felt like hours. I suppose it really had been hours. I took a deep breath to try and regain my control. Once I had it again, I started driving, much slower, back to the house.

When I got home, I went straight to the cottage. I heard daddy tell Emmett that what I'd been through tonight was enough and that he didn't think punishing me for leaving without permission and stealing Emmett's car was necessary. I sent a mental thank you to daddy and ran off for the cottage. As soon as I was home, I went to my room in the empty house and went to my bed and let myself cry more. I'm not sure when or how, but eventually, after soaking my pillow in tears, I finally fell asleep.

**JPOV**

I followed her to the door of my apartment, but stopped when the door almost literally slammed in my face. I hated seeing her cry. And it was my fault she was crying. All because I was angry at some man for what he did to one of my best friends. I laid my head against my door and just stood there. I could feel myself starting to cry. Not just for Kiowa, but also for Renesmee. My Renesmee. She'd never been through something like this before. She had no way of understanding how I was acting.

And now she thought I blamed her for what happened. That wasn't true at all. I felt really stupid in that moment. She was what I needed most right now, and here I was pushing her away. I felt myself start shaking again and I started taking fast, deep breaths. I couldn't faze here. I would destroy the apartment if I did. I fought for control and tried desperately to clear my head.

It took a long time for me to regain control over myself, but I was relieved when I'd finally had it. I took one last deep breath, then lifted my head from the door and made my way to my room. I needed to try and get some sleep. I didn't want to look sleep depraved when I went to the wake tomorrow night. I hoped Nessie would be there. I needed to apologize to her for how I'd acted. I wanted to do it in person. But for some reason, I could bring myself to want to go there. I wanted to talk to her alone. Not have her relatives breathing down my neck when I talked to her.

When I got into my room, I closed the door and walked straight to my bed, I saw my shredded clothes and pushed them aside. I could throw them away when I woke up. Assuming I could fall asleep in the first place. But then I saw the watch. The watch that Nessie had made for me and had put so much thought into, and I ruined it so carelessly. The pain in my chest became worse, and a tear did escape my eyes this time. She hadn't even mentioned it. I couldn't imagine how seeing that must have made her feel. And she had still been wearing the bracelet I'd gotten her.

I slumped on my bed and just muttered to myself how stupid I was. First she sees that I destroyed the watch she gave me, then I give her attitude that I knew she didn't deserve. I had never hated myself so much as I did at this moment. How could I do that to her. I didn't blame her for what happened, and yet I had been treating her like it was by being rude to her and putting her down with every attempt she made at trying to make me feel, even if only a little bit, better. She didn't deserve that, least of all from me.

I looked up at the watch on the night stand for a moment. I took the face of the watch and looked at it. The picture she had taken really was what one would call a Kodak moment. I decided in that moment that I wasn't going to get any sleep this morning. I rose up from bed and got back on my feet. I took all the parts of the watch and found a small bag to put them in. I made sure I had all the pieces and went down to my car and made my way to Seattle.

**RPOV**

I looked at the clock when I awoke and groaned when I saw the time. It was nine o'clock in the morning. I'd gotten three hours of sleep. And I'd woken up because of a pounding in my head. I looked down at myself and realized that I'd never changed my clothes. I didn't feel like bothering now either.

I got out of bed and sat there a moment. I wanted to talk to someone. I reached for my phone and looked through my contact numbers until I found Aida. I wasn't sure, at first, why I would pick Aida of all people to talk to about something like this when I had a team of vampires to choose from just a stone throw away. But then I realized that I needed to talk to someone human. Someone that would have a better grasp of how this would feel to them. That and I just needed to be with a friend. But I planned to talk to daddy too before he dropped me off at Aida's house. Assuming he'll let me go after the stunt I'd pulled last night.

"_Hello?"_ Her voice was annoyed and groggy. I had a feeling she hadn't even bothered looking at the caller ID.

"Hey Aida. It's me." Her voice wasn't as critical when she answered me this time.

"_Nessie? Are you okay? You sound like you've been crying."_ I hadn't realized I sounded that way. I brushed it aside though, and got to the point.

"I was wondering if you were free today. I really need someone to talk to."

"_Yeah, sure. I'm free. Why, what's the matter?"_ I sighed.

"I'll tell you when I get to your house, okay. Talk to you in a minute after I ask daddy if it's okay." Aida was the only one that knew Edward Cullen was my father. It was a relief not to have to continue a façade. That was why I picked her over Madison or Mackenzie.

"_Sure. Text me when you know. I'll talk to you later Nessie. Bye."_ I returned the farewell and hung up my phone. I got out of bed to go do my morning routine. When I had that done, I walked out and went to the living room. I suddenly noticed that daddy was sitting there. He was watching the fire he'd lit in the fire place.

"Where's momma?" I asked him. My voice was quieter than usual, but that didn't hinder him.

"She and Esme are in La Push helping with the wake. Rosalie and Alice went to go pick flowers for tonight and the funeral tomorrow, and Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle went out to go buy suitable suits for me and themselves. Alice is planning on buying dresses later today after she gets the flower arrangements. It'll be the first time we'll be wearing all black." I nodded awkwardly and walked a little closer.

"I wanted to talk to you." Daddy sighed.

"As far as you going to Aida to talk, I have no problem with that." Daddy turned and stood from the couch and faced me. He started walking closer to me. "You do know what you did was wrong." I nodded.

"I know. I just wanted to see Jacob and make sure he was okay. I should have listened to you." Daddy shook his head.

"I understand, honey. Really, I do. You were worried about him. I should have assumed that you would want to see him regardless of what I said."

"But he didn't need me." I felt tears piercing my eyes again and I looked down. Daddy closed the distance between us and hugged me. I hugged him back, but still fought to hold back tears. I really hated crying.

"That's not true, Renesmee. He needs you now more than ever. Everyone expresses pain differently. Jacob, unfortunately, has a habit of bottling everything up and keeping it to himself. But in the process, he just makes himself angry."

"I tried helping him, but he wouldn't let me."

"Nessie, he just needs you to be there for him. Hold his hand, stay by his side, tell him everything will be okay. In fact, it might be best to say nothing at all."

"How will saying nothing make him feel better?" I said that with anger in my voice I knew. I was getting annoyed. I wanted to know what would be the perfect thing to say to him. Daddy heard my thoughts and sighed.

"There is no perfect thing to say, Nessie. There really isn't."

"There should be." I felt like a child suddenly, a really stubborn child.

"I wish there was, honey. But there isn't. You need to accept that if you're going to help Jacob through this." Daddy was running his fingers through m hair trying to sooth me. Combined with his cold arms and scent, it helped a little.

After a moment, daddy started humming my lullaby. The one he'd written for me when I was a little girl. He lifted me up so that I was standing on his shoes and started moving from foot to foot, almost in a rocking motion. I kept my arms around his waist and he rocked me for a while.

With all that, I started feeling a lot better. Simpler for lack of a better word. The rocking motion combined with daddy's scent and the sound of his voice humming my lullaby made me feel younger again and made everything seem to melt away. I didn't loosen my grip on daddy even for a moment and neither did he.

When he finished the lullaby, he buried his face into my hair and started rubbing my back soothingly. I started pushing memories to daddy. He could hear my thoughts as it was, but I pushed images to him almost as a reflex. I showed him every memory I had of our time together, even times that hadn't been so great.

One of the first memories I showed him was when I first saw him. The panic that had been overflowing the room seemed to mean little when I saw him. He'd made everything seem okay. And then I showed him the memories I had of him teaching me new languages and how to play new instruments. And I showed him the first time I'd ever gotten a cut from the mountain lion I'd ever hunted years ago. When I showed him everything, he tightened his grip and at the end of it I pushed one last thought into his head.

_I love you daddy. Thank you for everything._

"I love you too, honey. Always remember that." I nodded into daddy's shoulder.

"I will." We hugged a little longer, not saying anything at all after that. Eventually, daddy took me off of his feet and let go of me, me doing the same.

"Text Aida and let her know you're on her way." I nodded and took out my phone, then had a thought. Daddy laughed lightly and looked at me. "Don't worry, honey. I already know where she lived. Somehow she found out that I'm a mind reader and she was practically screaming her address to me whenever she saw me."

Daddy smiled kindly at me and I giggled. It would be so like Aida to do that.

"Was she hoping that you would or the others would come and drink her blood or something?" Daddy shrugged.

"Something along those lines. She was hoping to join the coven." I smiled and daddy rubbed my head.

"It sounds like her." After a moment of just standing there, daddy started walking towards the door and I followed after him.

We took our time walking to the house. We weren't talking. We were just enjoying the company. I started wishing that I had taken advantage of Jasper's gift the day before. I could really use it right about now. I couldn't imagine what the wake and the funeral would be like.

"We're all going to the wake and the funeral. You can ask Jasper to help you all you want." I smiled.

"You don't think Jasper will mind do you?" Daddy laughed.

"He thinks the world of you, Nessie. As far as Jasper's concerned, you really are his niece. He would, literally, bend over backwards for you."

"Is that a yes?" Daddy chuckled.

"Yes, honey, it is."

When we got to the house, we went straight to the garage and went to daddy's Volvo. I looked and saw that Emmett's Jeep and Alice 's Porsche were gone. I looked at daddy, asking him my question. Daddy smiled.

"No, Nessie, Emmett's not mad at you. He was a little irked that you didn't ask him first, though. He claims that he would've gladly driven you himself." I smiled back.

"Why do you say it like that?" Daddy lost his grin.

"Emmett wasn't too happy when I told him what happened. Last I heard, he was still upset with Jacob for yelling at you like that." I put my head down and looked at my hands.

"Jacob didn't yell at me, per se. A tone, yes, but he didn't yell at me."

"We aren't going to yell at Jacob about it or anything Nessie." Daddy responded to my concern. "The last thing the man needs right now is to be backed into a corner by a man that's just barely his size." I nodded.

"That'll only make things worse."

"I agree. That's why I plan on keeping Emmett and Jasper away from Jacob." I looked up surprised.

"Jasper's mad too?" Daddy shrugged.

"You tend to forget how fondly Emmett and Jasper think of you. To Emmett, you're his favorite niece and to Jasper, you're the little sister he never had. And they both are of a southern culture. The old south had a lot bent on family."

"They shouldn't be mad at Jacob either way."

"They won't be if you and Jacob fix things up. I know you two will, but do it in your own time. Don't feel like you need to rush it or anything, okay, Nessie." I nodded.

"Alright."

"And," Daddy said as he came up the driveway to Aida's house, "believe it or not, Aida has plenty of good advice for you. Take everything she says to heart and really think about it. This isn't the first time she's dealt with something like this."

I was curious, but didn't ask daddy to elaborate. Aida would tell me whatever daddy was talking about if and when she wanted to. If there was anything I knew about Aida, it was to not mess with her when she was in a bad mood. I'm immortal and I'm still scared of her wrath. Candy made the mistake of messing with her one day when she was in a monumentally bad mood. Candy couldn't sit the same for the rest of the week.

Daddy smiled at my thought and gave me a tight hug. I hugged him back and got out of the car when he released me. Daddy waited in the driveway while I walked up to the door of the house and rang the doorbell. I waited a minute before Coralline answered the door. I waved goodbye to daddy before going in and daddy waved goodbye to me before driving off to go back to the house.

"Can I get you anything?" I shook my head.

"No, that's alright. Where's Aida." Coralline smiled.

"She's taking a shower. She thought you would take longer to get here. My mom made some breakfast if you want any." I smiled.

"No thanks." Coralline nodded and smiled.

"Would you mind meeting our mom? She's heard a lot about you from me and Aida." I heard feet coming down the stairs.

"Will you stop badgering her? She doesn't want to meet mom." I shrugged.

"I don't mind."

"Yes you do. Now come on." Aida took my hand and pulled me with her up the stairs and to her room. When we were in her room, she closed the door and finished toweling her hair. "Okay. So what did you want to talk about?" I sat on the edge of her bed before talking.

"It's about Jacob." Aida gave me a perplexed look.

"You're having relationship problems and you're coming to me?" I shrugged.

"You're the only one that knows Jacob and I are together."

"Your parents know, don't they?" I nodded.

"I needed to talk to someone human." She huffed a laugh and shrugged.

"I would be a human I guess." I smiled. She sighed and walked over to her bed and took a seat next to me on the edge. "So what can I do for you?" I sighed.

"Did you watch the news yesterday?" Her face fell.

"Yeah, I did. Did you and Jacob know her?"

"Jacob did. They were good friends. Jacob isn't taking her death very well." Aida nodded.

"I see."

"And everything I say doesn't work." Aida touched my shoulder.

"Just show me everything." I looked at her confused a moment, then knew what she was talking about. I touched Aida's hand and showed her what happened from start to finish. I didn't show her mine and Jacob's private moment, but I showed her everything after that. When I was finished, she sighed.

"What?"

"I know what the problem is." I perked up a little.

"What?" Aida's face fell a little more and she looked at the floor.

"Nessie, a few years ago, right after my family and I moved here from Seattle, a good friend of mine died. Her name was Aubrey. We'd had the same elementary school classes the whole time we went to elementary school and we used to play together every day after school.

"But she had a lot of family problems. Her mother was sleeping around behind her father's back and her father was an alcoholic. Shortly after we moved to Seattle, I got a call from one of my other friends in Seattle telling me that Aubrey had just died."

"What happened to her?" Aida sighed mournfully.

"Her father had killed her and her mom. Her mom finally came clean about her cheating. She told him that she found a younger man or something and that he was the man she loved and that she wanted a divorce.

"Needless to say, her father didn't take that news very well. And he was already a little drunk when she told him, so he was bound to react violently. He had a gun at the house, so he shot her mom twice in the heard and Aubrey three times in the chest. Then he shot himself in the head." Aida looked at me then. "It was the most painful thing anyone had ever told me."

"But you had family to comfort you, right? You had the people around you." Aida shook her head.

"It doesn't always work like that Nessie. I didn't want to talk about it with anyone. To me, talking about it was almost like admitting that it'd really happened."

"So you're saying Jacob's in denial?" She shook her head.

"I don't think so. From what you showed me, Jacob's the type that can't be consoled by words."

"Than what am I supposed to do?" When Aida answered me, her response was blunt and straight forward.

"Don't say anything." I was about to talk, but Aida put her finger on my mouth to silence me. "He doesn't need words, Nessie. I think what he needs is just you. He needs you to hold his hand. He needs you to physically let him know that he still has you. Let him know he's not suffering through this alone. But do it silently."

I looked at Aida a moment and thought about her advice. It seemed like it might work, but wouldn't. I hated just sitting there watching Jacob as upset as he was. I wasn't sure I couldn't say anything in a desperate attempt to make him feel better. Aida sighed. I hadn't realized I was still showing her my thoughts.

"Nessie, death is a serious thing. You can't tell someone that person is in a better place or that the one responsible will get what they deserve. Nothing you say can bring Jacob's friend back. It's a harsh truth, but truth none the less. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is be there."

"But then I feel like I'm doing nothing to help him." Aida shook her head.

"Not true, dude. By just sitting there and being with him is enough to make him feel better. He won't ever completely forget about yesterday. You never completely heal from something like that. You only come to terms with it. He needs you to help him do that." I smiled at Aida gratefully and she smiled back at me.

"Thanks Aida. Really."

"No problem." Aida rose from the bed and walked to her dresser to get her hair dryer. Then she smirked and turned to look at me. "And you know, Nessie, it might not hurt to give poor Jacob some booty while you're at it."

I laughed, but threw her pillow at her while doing so. She dodged and threw the pillow back at me.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, Aida and I just hung around her house and played Xbox to pass the time. I did end up meeting her mother. She was a nice lady. A little abrasive, but nothing too unbearable. I was surprised when around six, Alice came to the house to come pick me up. Alice wasn't as upbeat as she normally was. She looked depressed, something I never saw. Another thing I never saw was Alice in all black. She was wearing an a-line back skirt with a black silk see-through blouse with a black tank underneath and black high heeled shoes. She was holding a bag and a box which I assumed held the outfit I would be wearing.

I went to their bathroom and changed into the black fitted dress that Alice had brought me and the black heeled shoes. She brought make-up for me, but I didn't bother with it. When I was dressed and ready, I said goodbye to Aida and thanked her again for her help.

Alice drove us to the wake in a matter of minutes. I sighed when she put the car in park and turned off the car. I wasn't sure if Jacob was mad or not and I wasn't sure I was ready to face him if he was. Alice stroked my hair reassuringly, telling me that I had nothing to worry about.

I took a deep breath before getting out of the car and walking with Alice into the funeral home. The building wasn't very large at all. I could see the pack and all the other Quileutes standing around talking and mourning. It took a moment to find Jacob in all the hustle and bustle of the crowd of people that were there. As daddy said, everyone from my family was there, all wearing black. I'd never seen them all wear so much black in my life.

When I did finally see Jacob, he was standing in front of one of the coffins. I took one more deep breath and started waking to him slowly. Some people stopped me to talk to them on the way and to thank me for coming, but I kept those conversations politely brief.

Eventually, I was finally close enough to see just Jacob and the coffins in front of me. Jacob was standing at Kiowa's coffin staring at her. If anyone else were to be looking at him, they'd see him giving her a blank stare. But I saw that his face was holding pain. I looked over Jacob and smiled at seeing him in a suit. They really did look good on him. He had broad shoulders and just the right body type to make any suit look twice it's worth.

What surprised me was what I saw on his left wrist. It was the watch. The watch I'd given him yesterday that had been destroyed when he'd fazed. I smiled widely at that for a moment, but then took the look off my face. I breathed and walked over to Jacob slowly, coming up behind him. When I was right behind him, I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his back.

Jacob flinched, then realized it was me. He was so far out there that he hadn't even smelled me or heard me approach him. But when he realized who I was, I felt him stiffen. I looked up and saw the pain that was still on his face. He turned around in my arms and bent down to take me in a hug. I hugged him back and started caressing his back. His voice was broken when he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like that. And I'm sorry I broke the watch." I shook my head and found my way to my nook and rested my head there.

"It's okay. You got it fixed didn't you?" Jacob sighed.

"Yeah. After spending two hours arguing with the jeweler over the time limit. He kept trying to tell me that he couldn't have it done by the time I needed it. I managed to convince him otherwise." I smiled.

"How much did that cost you?"

"More than my monthly rent." I giggled lightly into his shoulder. Then after a moment, he spoke again. "I really am sorry." I shook my head.

"I'm sorry." I felt tears starting to form in my eyes again but I forced them back. "I love you Jacob. You know that right?" Jacob rested his cheek on top of my head and nodded.

"I know. I love you too. With everything I am." I smiled and let a tear fall down my cheek.

After that, all we did was hug. I held him to me and let the silent tears smear into the shoulder of my dress. Eventually, Jacob took his arms and wrapped them around my waist and lifted me up into his arms. Then he buried his face into the crook of my neck and the tears kept flowing. He didn't make a sound as he cried and I didn't make a sound either. I just let him cry. I even let myself cry a little with him, just as silently.

No one said a word about me and Jacob hugging right next to Kiowa's coffin. They knew what was going on and didn't want to disturb a man mourning for his friend. I mentally asked daddy to let me go home with Jacob tonight. He didn't come over to tell me when we were leaving, so I assumed that meant he didn't mind. Once again, daddy didn't make a contradiction to the thought known.

Eventually, after standing in front of the coffins for a few minutes, we sat down in the front row of chairs. Jacob sat there hunched over with one arm around my shoulders. Both of my hands held his free had and we started playing with each other's fingers to help occupy our minds. I rested my head on his chest and he rested his head on top of mine. We sat there in silence for a few minutes, watching other friends and family member look at the bodies and cry. I was relieved when Jacob did finally say something.

"She didn't deserve this." I shook my head.

"No. She didn't." I looked at Jacob and noticed that he was tearing up again. I sat up straight and took him into my arms again. _I'm here, Jacob. I'm here._ I pushed the thought into his head with my most pleasant sounding voice my mind could create. He tightened his grip on me when he heard the thought.

"I know." I smiled and let my fingers run through his hair gently and soothingly. His hair was getting longer. Alice will probably start bugging him about letting her cut it soon. I felt Jacob's nose start nuzzling my neck and it made me smile a little wider. Maybe he was starting to feel better. "She was like a sister."

"Was she?" He nodded.

"I can't remember a single day that I saw her frown. Even when she got a C on her biology final sophomore year." He said the last part with a little laugh. I stroked his hair while he spoke. I was hoping that maybe I found a way to help give him closure.

"A C isn't so bad." Jacob shook his head.

"That's what I said. I barely passed that." I giggled lightly.

"You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes." Jacob lifted himself from me, but always kept one arm around me.

"I think you tend to give me more than I deserve." I shrugged.

"I guess I'm biased. You are too, though." Jacob gave me a small grin.

"Hardly." We sat there a moment longer. I took a quick look around the funeral home to see if daddy and the others were still here. I saw daddy, momma, Esme and Carlisle talking to Billy and grandpa. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice we talking to Alyssa and Seth. When I saw they were still here, I looked back at Jacob. His face was blank again.

"Tell me more about her." Jacob looked at me confused at first, then complied with my request.

"She was a corky girl. She really liked cliff diving with me, Quil and Embry. She was smarter than all of us too." I smiled.

"Was she?" He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. As and Bs all through school. With the exception of that one chemistry final, but that was j\kind of our fault."

"Who's fault?" Jacob smiled a little more.

"Mine, Quil's, and Embry's."

"And how was her getting a C on her biology final your guy's fault." I could swear I saw Jacob blushing.

"It's a really long story." I took Jacob's free hand in mine and started rubbing his hand with my thumbs.

"I love long stories." Jacob smiled awkwardly and sighed.

"It was our sophomore year. It was before I met Bella, now that I think of it, but that's not really important."

"Sophomore year. Got it." He smiled at me and continued.

"Anyway, Quil, Embry, and I had been out in the woods the night before the final. Kiowa stayed home because she wanted to get in some last minute cramming."

"How did you guys get involved?" Jacob gave me a small laugh.

"Well……..we were all in the woods next to her house. She had gone home to study like she said she would, and we went into the forest and such. But after an hour, we got hungry, so we walked over to her house to ask if we could stay for dinner."

"Why couldn't you guys go home?"

"Because Quil's mom is a bit of a study stickler. Quil didn't want to go home because of that. At least, not until nine when his mom would yell at him to go to bed." I nodded.

"Okay. And?"

"Kiowa's mom said it was okay for us to stay for dinner as long as we didn't bother or distract Kiowa while she was studying. We promised we wouldn't, so we stayed out of her room for the most part."

"I'm still not seeing how this made it hard for her to study." Jacob kissed my forehead.

"I told you, I'm getting to that." I stayed silent and waited for him to talk again. "So since we weren't allowed in her room at the time, we went outside to play in the pile of wood they had stacked outside. We thought it was a stable enough pile, so we started climbing on it a bit."

"Okay." I still wasn't seeing where he was going with this, but I listened.

"But then, Embry saw a hatched sitting on the side of the house. He was bored with playing on the wood pile, so he went to the hatchet. Before I go on, there was a kid that lived next door to Kiowa that we didn't like. He moved away about five years ago or something. Having said that, Embry saw a tree that he thought would land in their yard if he were to cut it down."

"You cut a tree into her neighbor's yard!" I kept my voice quiet, but I was surprised. Jacob gave me a guilty smile.

"Not exactly. We cut the trunk of the tree and it stayed still and upright for a few seconds. But then a gust of wind blew by and made the tree tilt and fall on Kiowa's garage." My eyes did widen then. I heard daddy, Emmett, and Jasper laugh to themselves. Emmett less to himself.

"You mean to tell me that you and your friends cut down a tree in her yard and the tree landed on their garage!" It was a loud whisper, but my statement held no less potency.

"Funny, I know." I would have smacked Jacob if I hadn't heard the sarcasm in his voice. "Obviously, her mom and dad were furious. They made her and us clean up the broken wood and bricks and spend the weekend rebuilding the garage."

"Why did Kiowa have to help you guys?" Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know, really. Her mom said something about not keeping her friends in line or something."

"She was studying."

"She brought that up. But her mom wouldn't budge. Kiowa never yelled at us for that. I'm sure she wanted to though." I laughed without humor.

"I sure as hell would." I heard daddy clear his throat and I sighed. Jacob laughed too.

"I know you would. I hope I never make you that angry." I smiled.

"Me too." Jacob continued.

"I mean, you've been mad at me before, but Kiowa's mom……that was mad."

"Never make a tree fall on my garage and you should be golden." Jacob laughed lightly at my joke and squeezed my hand.

"Thanks. I needed that." I smiled at him.

"Any time." The wake lasted until eleven at night. I stayed with Jacob until then. When it hit nine, daddy came over to where Jacob and I were sitting and told us that they were leaving. When daddy asked, Jacob agreed to let me spend the night at his house for tonight and took the shopping bag that had my dress for tomorrow.

When the wake was over and we did leave, the car ride back to Jacob's apartment was silent. Jacob didn't look as upset as he had when I'd first seen him today, but he wasn't smiling either. He didn't say anything the whole drive back or when we were walking up the steps to get to his apartment. When we walked through the door, Jacob immediately took off his suit jacket and tossed it on the couch when he was close enough to it.

"We better get some sleep. The funeral starts early." I walked a little closer to him.

"What time does it start?"

"Nine." I nodded and walked the rest of the way to Jacob until I was standing next to him behind the couch. When I was standing next to him, I hugged him.

"Don't worry about letting me sleep in or anything. Wake me up when you're up." Jacob hugged me back and kissed the top of my head.

"Okay." Then Jacob let go of me and walked to his room to get ready for bed. I went to my bathroom and did my nightly routine as fast as I could. I went to my room when I was done and changed into my pajamas. When I was dressed, I went to Jacob's room and let myself in. Jacob was still in the bathroom taking a shower, so I sat on my side of the bed and waited for him.

I let myself lay back on the bed while I waited for him to get out of the shower. But I didn't bother with reading anything. All the car magazines that Jacob had were pretty repetitive. I sat up when I heard Jacob turn off the shower. He came out in his usual sweats and was drying his hair with a towel while walking out. He smiled lightly when he saw me and I smiled in return.

"You don't mind me sleeping her do you?" Jacob's small smile widened a little and I noticed a slight blush.

"Not at all. I was actually going to ask you to anyway." I smiled.

"Looks like you don't need to ask after all." He chuckled lightly. Then he put the towel on the bathroom doorknob to dry and walked to the bed. I got off the bed and helped him pull back the covers, then pulled them back over when we were in.

When I had the covers pulled over me, I snuggled closer to Jacob and he openly welcomed me. He even held me tighter to him than he usually did. I lifted my arm up and around his chest and rested my head on my nook and, with my arm staying on his chest, let my hand trail up to his neck and rub there gently.

He brought his right hand up from his side and started brushing my forearm with his hand. I brushed my nails against his neck and I felt him tremble slightly. After I felt him tremble, Jacob moved so that he was lying on top of me. When he was on top, he brought his lips to mine and kissed me. I was a little confused, but I didn't stop him. I just kissed him back.

It was a sweet kiss that held love. But there wasn't any lust there. It was more a feeling of gratefulness as opposed to lust. I let both my hands come up and thread through his hair while Jacob held himself up on his elbows. The only sounds were our breathing while we kissed. I took Jacob's top lip in my mouth and sucked lightly as he did the same to my bottom lip. We repeated that several times before Jacob took his lips away from mine and rested his head on my chest. I kissed his forehead and held him there.

We didn't say anything. Neither of us wanted to ruin the moment with talk of things being better eventually or telling each other to be strong. We fell asleep that way, me holding him close to me and Jacob laying his head on my chest. It was comfortable and soothing. Seemingly making everything else in the world that was wrong disappear, even if only for a moment.

Jacob woke me up the next morning as he promised he would. He didn't wake me up with a kiss like he usually did, though. He only said my name until I was awake. When I was awake, I gave Jacob a quick kiss before he got out of bed and went to his closet to get dressed. I got out of bed and went to my room where my bag was that had my dress for the funeral. This dress was similar to the one that I'd worn the night before at the wake. This one was slightly longer, though.

We left as soon as we were both ready and went to the graveyard in La Push where Kiowa and her family were being buried. Everyone looked about the same as they had last night when we got there. Sam and the others looked on the verge of tears now. Billy and Sue were the ones to lead the funeral pressesion. Jacob, being the rightful tribe leader, gave a few words in Quileute wishing her and her family a safe journey to the afterlife. Kiowa's mother was still in the hospital and unconscious, so she wasn't able to come to the funeral.

I saw Kiowa's sister with her baby girl. Her eyes were a deep shade of red from all the crying she had been doing. At some point in the funeral, daddy asked Jasper to lighten everyone a little so that they weren't feeling as much pain. Daddy did that because halfway through I was about to cry and I asked him to ask Jasper to help me feel better. And I hated seeing Jacob in so much pain. Out of respect, of course, Jasper didn't take away the pain. He only made it so that everyone didn't feel the desperate need to cry anymore.

When the funeral itself was over, we all stayed and watched the coffins be descended into the ground, everyone staring on and watching. I could see the discomfort Jasper was feeling with all the unhappiness that was surrounding him at the time. I saw daddy getting depressed too with all the angry and sad thoughts that he was hearing.

The gathering after the funeral was spent talking about them and all the happy times they all had with Kiowa and her family. Jacob, Quil, and Embry were more than happy, in a sense, to share the story about the destroyed garage. And they shared less destructive memories like how they used to catch frogs with her and go camping over the summer. It was the first time in days that I'd seen anyone smile. Jasper and daddy felt a world of relief with that.

I went home with Jacob again after that. Daddy said that he still needed me around for a little longer. Jacob didn't argue and said that he would drive me to school tomorrow. When we got back to Jacob's apartment, we were quiet for a while. Jacob went straight to his room to change out of his suit. I went to my room and changed into my pajamas. It was only two in the afternoon, but I didn't feel like going anywhere, and I was sure Jacob didn't either, so I didn't see the point in putting anything other than pajamas on.

Jacob was already in the living room in nothing but his sweats and a pair of socks. He had the TV on and was looking through the channels trying to find something. I sat next to him on the couch and watched him change the channels. I took his free hand in mine and my other hand stroked his knee.

"How are you feeling?" I figured it was a dumb question, but I needed to ask. Jacob sighed.

"I guess. It's really starting to sink in."

"I'm sorry. I know that doesn't change anything, but I really am sorry." Jacob shook his head and took me into his arms.

"It wasn't your fault. Don't apologize for something that isn't your fault." I hugged him back and held him to me hoping that he would feel better.

"Have I at least been helpful through this whole thing?" I felt Jacob smile.

"I don't know if I could have gotten through this without you, Nessie. I owe you." I shook my head.

"You don't owe me anything, Jacob. Just promise me that you'll be okay and we'll call it even." Jacob laughed lightly.

"I'll be okay, Nessie. As long as you're here to help me through this, I'll be okay." I smiled and lifted my head from my nook to look at him.

"That's all I needed to hear." He smiled at me in return. "Would a kiss help?" Jacob chuckled.

Without answering me, he brought his lips to mine and kissed me. Jacob didn't wait long before his tongue brushed against my bottom lip asking for permission to deepen the kiss. I opened for him and he took advantage, running his tongue all along my mouth. I was taken by surprise when one of Jacob's hands trailed from my back to my knee and pulled me onto his lap.

I wrapped my arms around his neck while his hand stayed on my knee and his other hand trailed into my hair. The feeling of Jacob's hand on my knee made me tremble and I moaned softly. Jacob's hand trailed up my leg and finally rested on my hip. My arms left his neck and let my hands rest on his neck. After just kissing me for a few minutes, Jacob took his lips away from mine and rested his forehead on mine with a small smile on his face. I gave him the same smile and rested my hand on his cheek.

"Really, Nessie. Thank you. You were there for me even when I barked at you. I wouldn't have gotten through this without you." I kissed him again.

"You're welcome. I love you." He kissed me again.

"I love you too, Renesmee."

"I'll always be there for you, Jacob, no matter what." Jacob smiled.

"I know. And I'll always be there for you."

"I know." We smirked at each other again and gave each other another kiss. When we parted, we hugged each other on the couch, letting every problem melt away, even if only for a few minutes.


	3. Lost Time

**Lost Time**

"Jacob, where are we going?" I was blindfolded at the moment. Jacob had come to pick me up from school and when I'd reached over to kiss him, he'd blindfolded me.

"It's a surprise. Why do you think I blindfolded you?" I sighed.

"Are we at least almost there?"

"Yes, we're almost there."

"Okay, I'll be patient then."

"Thank you."

I didn't say anything for the rest of the drive. Daddy hadn't said anything about this in the morning or on the drive to school, so I hadn't been expecting anything. When I felt the car come to a stop, I heard Jacob get out of the car and start walking to the passenger's side of the car to take me out. When he opened the door to the car, I smelled the woods along with his scent. I was confused, but didn't say anything. Jacob took me in his arms and carried me as he started running. I heard him lock his car before running off.

It took fifteen minutes to get to wherever Jacob was taking me, but when we were there, Jacob put me down gently and didn't let go of me until I had back my footing. When I was sure on my feet, Jacob brought his hands up to the tie of my blindfold and brought his lips close to my ear. I shuddered when his hot breath hit my ear as her spoke.

"Surprise." With that, Jacob took off my blindfold and let me see again. I saw the archway of trees that I remembered. I also saw a tent and fire pit in the clearing. I smiled and turned to look around at Jacob.

"What's all this?" Jacob smiled.

"Happy Valentine's Day." I gave Jacob a sweet smile.

"But it's March." Jacob shrugged.

"Our Valentine's Day didn't go so well, so I wanted to try it again." I giggled and hugged him.

"That's so sweet. How long will we be out here?"

"How does Sunday afternoon sound?" I giggled again.

"Sounds like a plan. What activities did you have in mind for our little trip?" Jacob smiled and brought his face closer to mine so that our noses were touching.

"I thought we'd do some fishing in one of the rivers. Or maybe do some hunting. Possibly star gazing. And maybe…" Jacob then brought his lips to mine and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "who knows." I smiled at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and Jacob straightened himself out so that he was standing straight and holding me above the ground in his arms.

"Sounds like a lot of fun. What should we do first." Jacob gave me a cocky grin before bringing his lips to mine in a searing kiss.

Our mouths immediately opened to let each other in to deepen the kiss. Our tongues dueled for however long. My hands trailed into Jacob's freshly cut hair and Jacob brought his hands down my back and over my butt until he grabbed my legs and forced them up and around his waist.

I started feeling Jacob move to turn around and I felt us fall back. I was concerned at first, but relaxed when my back gently touched the trunk of a tree. I felt myself blush and felt like I was on fire. I could hear both our hearts beating faster. My hands left Jacob's hair and trailed down his neck and to his chest. Jacob changed the angle of our kiss as I started gently scratching his pecks with my nails. I smiled to myself when I heard Jacob groan softly. But after that, all too soon, Jacob ended the kiss. He gave me a silly, almost regretful, smile when we looked at each other.

"Let's go hunting first and turn in early. Then we can go fishing at the river near by tomorrow morning." I looked at Jacob a moment with a dazed looked at eventually smiled and nodded.

"Sure. That sounds like fun." Jacob smiled at me and put me down on my feet. Jacob walked into the clearing and I looked away so he could undress and faze.

But when I heard Jacob take off his shirt, I let my eyes wonder back to him. He was standing behind some trees, but I could still see him through small spaces between trees. The lack of greenery with the cold month didn't help the hiding spot either.

When Jacob's shirt was off, I saw him take off his platinum watch and place it on his shirt. I looked over Jacob's strong back and arms and forced back a sigh as I watched him. If I sighed, he would hear it and ruin the moment. When his shirt and watch were off and on the ground, I saw Jacob's hands reach for his jeans and my heart raced. I'd only gotten to see this much of Jacob once, and it had been an accident. Getting a chance to see him again and not on accident would make my day.

Jacob conveniently turned around to face the direction I was in. His eyes were staring down for the most part, occasionally looking up and around. When Jacob had his jeans undone, he hooked his jeans and his boxers onto his thumbs and pulled them both down, taking off his shoes and socks while he was bent down. I only saw him for a brief moment before he fazed, but I let myself take my fill.

I looked away again when he was in his wolf form so he wouldn't catch me looking. Then I heard his large paws hit against the ground as he walked over to where I was. He was giving me a wolfy grin when I saw him and I smiled back at him. He walked close enough to me that his nose was touching mine and he was breathing on me. I giggled. When he was in his wolf form, his breath reminded me a little of puppy breath, but with an odd woodsy edge. I suppose one could call it the only smell in the world that could ever be called cute.

I kissed his nose gently and he licked my cheek. I laughed and started rubbing my cheek dry as Jacob barked in laughter. I poked Jacob's nose as he laughed and I giggled with him. Keeping his wolfy grin, Jacob turned to start running to the forest. Before he could speed off, I jumped onto Jacob's back. Jacob roared in surprise and spun around once before he barked in laughter again. I joined him. He started barking at me, indicating that he was saying something.

"Stop barking and start running." Jacob growled teasingly and I laughed as he started running. We looked everywhere in the woods for a bear or a mountain lion, but it took a while. We finally found a bear and her cubs, but I didn't have the heart to kill a mother and her kids, so we started looking for something else.

By the time it was late afternoon, Jacob and I had found two other bears that we could attack. I leaped off Jacob's back when I saw them and managed to get the largest bear before him. I heard Jacob's soft barking laugh at my eagerness as he brought his fangs away from the other, smaller bear. I drank every drop of the bear's blood as fast as I could so that Jacob could dig into the bear. When I was done, Jacob waited for me to go to the next bear before he started eating the bear I'd just killed.

After I was done with both bears, Jacob was still trying to finish his share of the first bear. I walked over to him and sat down next to him as he was eating and started scratching his shoulder. Jacob shuddered a moment, but then became used to the sensation and continued eating. He started making purring/grunting noises as I petted him.

Jacob took his time eating his food. By the time he was done, the sun had completely set and I was star gazing as I pet his fur and let him eat. The skies were pretty clear today, so the view of the stars was really good. I could see the moon and constellations. It was a full moon out tonight, making the forest light up with its light. Jacob brought his nose to my face and liked my cheek. Normally this would be gross, but there was no blood left in the bear for him to smear on my face. I giggled and gently smacked the side of his face and he started laughing too.

"You're so gross, you know that?" Jacob continued barking and I stood up to glare playfully at him.

Then, before I could stand up, Jacob nudged me back down with his nose and I landed on my back. I was laughing again and Jacob was towering over me, keeping me down. I tried hitting Jacob's arm and he leaped back, but it was in a playful manner. I rose up and leaped away when he jumped for me again. He jumped back again and was bowing the top part of his body down playfully. It was the same way you would see a real dog do. I started laughing harder.

"You want to play fetch or something?" Jacob jumped and barked and spun around before standing still and bowing down again with his tail wagging fiercely. I looked around for a large branch that I could use and finally found one that was good.

I picked that up and waved it around a moment. Jacob jumped and barked again and gave me a playful wolfy grin. I smiled and jumped up before throwing the stick as hard as I could. Jacob ran backwards a moment before jumping up and catching the stick in his mouth. When he had it, he ran over to where I was standing and dropped it in front of me. I picked up the stick again and backed away a little before throwing the stick again. I threw it as hard as I could and watched Jacob chase after it.

Jacob and I played fetch for a while, not quite an hour though. I was getting bored with it and I knew Jacob was getting bored too. When Jacob brought it to me for the last time, I looked at the stick a moment, then turned away from Jacob and started walking away slowly. When I was a few feet away from Jacob, I turned around again to face him with a wide, cocky smile on my face. Jacob kept looking at me confused, but didn't bark or do anything else but looked at me.

"You want to race back to the camp site?" I didn't give Jacob a chance to answer before I turned again and dashed into the woods in the direction of the camp site. I heard Jacob catching up to me and tried running faster.

The good thing about being half vampire, was that I didn't get tired. Running for a long period of time never wore me out. I could run for miles and still have enough energy to do whatever else I need or want to do. Jacob didn't take long to catch up to me. Soon, we were running nose to nose back to camp. It took us thirty minutes of running to get back to camp, the whole way we were tied. When we were only a few meters away, I started speeding up and Jacob did the same. It was a close race, but when we reached the camp, I went long side and let myself drag like I would if I were sliding back to home plate. When I stopped, I kept lying there and was breathing hard, laughing a little to myself. I heard Jacob faze back and start putting his clothes on. By the time I turned around to face him, he was already wearing his pants and putting on his shirt.

"I won." I said with a smile and a giggle. Jacob turned to face me and rolled his eyes at me.

"Sure, sure. You won." I giggled.

"Bet you didn't think I would slid to finish did you?" Jacob glared playfully.

"Don't let it get to your head, Nessie. I let you win that time." I laughed out at that. Jacob was laughing too. He knew that wasn't the case. But he just couldn't help trying to boost himself up.

"Sure, sure. You let me win." I lifted myself up and ran to Jacob. When I was close enough, I jumped into his arms and he caught me and let himself fall backwards. Jacob and I were laughing together and holding tightly onto each other.

"Man eater." My smile widened.

"Mutt." Jacob started running his fingers through my hair. I rested my chin on Jacob's chest to look at him. He smiled at me sweetly.

"I love you." I brought myself higher onto him so we were face to face.

"I love you too." Jacob smiled and started lifting his face closer to mine. But I backed away and lifted myself off him. Jacob stared after me in confusion. But I didn't leave him confused for long. I walked over to the tent and turned around to face him again when I reached the tent doors.

When I was facing him, I smiled warmly at Jacob and watched him stand up from the ground. When he was standing, I motioned with my forefinger for him to come over to where I was. Jacob did so without saying a word or questioning me. When he was halfway to the tent, I reached down to the bottom zipper and forced open the tent and started walking in. Jacob laughed under his breath and followed after me. When we were both in, Jacob took me in his arms and we laid down on the inflatable outdoor mattress we'd brought and started looking at each other. Jacob had one arm around me and had me snuggled close to him and his other hand was twisting and lacing with mine. Jacob smiled at me gently and I smiled back.

"We better go to sleep now if we're going to wake up early to go fishing." I shrugged.

"I was thinking we could do something else before we went to sleep." Jacob smiled at me suspiciously.

"Like what?" I widened my smile and brought my face closer to his. I placed a small peck on his lips before I spoke.

"You tell me." With that said, I kissed his lips again, then started kissing along his jaw and letting my kisses trail to his neck, then his ear. When I was at his ear, I started sucking on it gently and earned a low groan from him. I smiled and started going further down his neck.

I gave him breathy kisses all the way down his neck and rubbing his chiseled chest with my hands. I forced him more on his back and continued kissing until I reached the hollow spot of his throat. When I reached that, I started kissing up the other side of his neck. I sucked on his ear again when I reached it.

Jacob then forced me onto my back and gently pressed his lips to mine in a tender, loving kiss. My hands wandered up his chest, then around his neck. Jacob kept his arms around me as he kissed me. And moments later, my hands were threading through his hair and pulling at the root. I was sure not to pull hard enough to take out his hair, only enough that it was enticing.

Before long, Jacob ran his tongue along my bottom lip and I opened my mouth to let him in. I did the same thing to him as he did to me and plundered my way around and caressed everything there. Jacob groaned again and I moaned lightly. Jacob lifted his arms so that they were resting on either side of my head and holding himself upright and slightly hovered above me. Jacob was also straddling me now. I smiled when he did that.

I took my hands back out of his hair and wrapped my arms around his neck and held onto him tightly. Jacob pulled his mouth away and gave my lips one last peck before he started kissing along my jaw and to my ear. He bit my ear gently then began sucking and playing with the diamond stud at my ear. I bit down onto my bottom lip to stay quiet. Jacob let his tongue swirl around my ear and it made me shudder. Jacob started laughing lightly and his hot breath against my ear made me shudder again. Then Jacob did the last thing I wanted him to do. He pulled himself away and laid down on his back on the mattress. I followed after him and rested my chin back on his chest.

"I hate it when you do that to me." Jacob gave me an innocent smile.

"You act as if I don't." I shrugged.

"Half the time I question it. Sometimes I think you use daddy as an excuse." Jacob's left brow rose in a challenging manner.

"Do you, now?"

"Yes, I do."Jacob gave me a cocky smile, then moved so that he was lying on his side. I was on my back again.

I didn't expect him to do anything but kiss me, and kiss me he did. Our lips touched again and I immediately let him in. Our tongues fought together and it went on as it usually did. But then I felt Jacob's hand touch my knee. That wasn't what I thought was odd. What was odd was that his hand was inching its way up my leg and gripping and releasing my thigh as he went up. Then his hand reached my core where I ached and he let his hand wonder there and applied pleasurable pressure with his fingers. Then those fingers started traveling up again. His hand traveled to the hem of my baggy shirt and dipped his fingers under so that his bare hand was traveling up my bare stomach. The contact made me shudder and I could feel the teasing pleasure forming again at my center.

His hand roamed aggravatingly slowly up my stomach. His thumbs gently caressed every individual rib and kept inching closer as he did so. Breathing was becoming harder and I had to moan lightly. I felt Jacob smile and I smiled to. I took a hold of his tongue with my teeth and bit gently before sucking and releasing again. Jacob crushed his mouth back to mine after I did that and his hand went straight up and cupped my right breast. I was wearing a sports bra that day. I was suddenly angry at myself for doing so. But I completely dismissed the matter when his hand went under my bra and cupped my bare breast and pinched my nipple gently. I moaned again and Jacob sighed. I finally worked up the courage to let my hands do their own wandering. I lifted my hands to his chest and started trailing my hands down. When I reached the top of his jeans, Jacob took both my hands in his one and took his hand away from my breast and his mouth away from mine. Jacob smiled at me again and I glared at him. I knew it wasn't a heartfelt glare, but I was glaring.

"You suck, you know that?" Jacob laughed.

"So do you. I wouldn't have been able to stop if I'd let your hands travel that far. Shame on you, Nessie, for being so bold." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Look who's talking." Jacob smiled innocently.

"I was just trying to prove a point." I rolled my eyes playfully, but still aggravated.

"And that point is….?"

"The point is that I'm not doing this just because of Edward. There's more to it than just that."

"And that is….?" Jacob sighed. He looked away for a minute, then looked at me again.

"What would you do if I got you pregnant right now?" I looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nessie, you're technically only three years old going on four. But to everyone else, you're a freshman in high school. In a roundabout way, you're still just a child." I sighed and answered his earlier question.

"Well, Jacob, if you were to get me pregnant, which you wouldn't because we'd use protection, I think I could handle it. I'm immortal. I could always wait a few more years before going back to school." Jacob put his hand on his face and grunted.

"Nessie, I don't have any form of protection with me. And even if I did, condoms aren't foul proof. They can break. And even birth control pills don't always work. Some women are still able to get pregnant even when they're on the pill. We like to call those .001% babies. They're the percent left of 99.99% effective. I had thought that we could just use condoms or pills, but truthfully, the more I thought about it, the more logical it seemed to just wait."

"Why are you so worried. It's not like we can't raise one."

"That's not the point Nessie. Just because I'm financially stable doesn't mean we're ready for a baby. There're a lot of dynamics to it." I sighed.

"So, aside from daddy, the reason you won't go any further is because you don't want to risk getting me pregnant." Jacob nodded. Then my face fell a little. Jacob looked at me with concern. "You mean you don't want one." Jacob shook his head and took my face in both his hands.

"That's not it Nessie. I do want kids. I want you and me to start a family one day. But the fact of the matter is that it's too soon for that. We're not ready for a baby just yet. And I'd like to be married to you first before we think about having kids. Truth be told, I think if I got you pregnant before we married, you wouldn't have a man to marry anyway." I giggled at his joke.

"Daddy wouldn't kill you. I think at worst, he'd hold a gun to your head as we said our vows." Jacob laughed too.

"And, frankly, I'd like for us to have a real wedding. Shotgun weddings never end well." I giggled again.

"I can't say I like it." Jacob was smiling at me with pleading eyes. "But I get what you're saying." Jacob smiled wider.

"That's all I ask." Jacob wrapped both his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. I lifted my head to kiss his chin. "Don't worry, Nessie. It'll happen one day. We just need to be patient." I nodded.

"Okay. I think I can do that." Jacob kissed my lips and nuzzled my nose.

"I know you can." I smiled at him and hugged him tighter and buried my face into my nook.

"I love you, Jacob."

"I love you too, Renesmee. I always will."

"I know." Jacob took a deep breath and sounded like he was going to try and sleep. I thought I'd tease him one last time before calling it a night. "If it's a boy, we're naming him Kevin." Jacob laughed lightly.

"Kevin Black. I like it." I nodded.

"And if it's a girl, Natalie." I felt Jacob smile.

"Natalie Black. Perfect. What should we make their middle names?" I thought about it a moment.

"Kevin Edward Black and Natalie Isabella Black. How's that?"

"Sounds good to me." I smiled into my nook.

"So it's settled then. Kevin and Natalie Black."

"Can't wait to meet them." I turned my face with a smile and kissed Jacob's chest.

"Me either, Jacob. Me either."


	4. Drivein

**Drive-in **

I woke up to the feeling of a warm hand caressing my face. I smelled the woodsy musk and smiled to myself as I forced myself up.

"Wake up, Ness ." I sighed and rolled over to face Jacob and opened my eyes when I was facing him. Jacob had a wide grin on his face. "Last day of freshman year. Are you excited?" I shrugged and groaned.

"Not really. I still have to take finals next week. And even when I'm a sophomore, I'll still be an underclassman." Jacob shrugged.

"Sorry, kid. That's how life works. In elementary school, when you're a kindergartener up to fifth grade, you're nothing. Then when you're a sixth grader, you rule the school. Then in junior high, you're nothing as a seventh grader, but when you're an eighth grader, you're on top again. Then in high school, you torment the freshman and sophomores, the juniors are tolerable, and seniors are the ones you worship and don't mess with. Then you repeat that in college, then when you start working, you're at the bottom of the barrel again. You don't reach the ultimate superiority until you retire." I giggled.

"So you're not at the very top until you're old and grey?" Jacob nodded.

"I'm afraid so, Nessie." I sighed.

"I don't want to wait that long." Jacob laughed out loud.

"I hate to break it to you, Nessie, but never aging is keeping you at the bottom of the barrel. No one will let you retire from anything if you don't have wrinkles and don't color your hair." I shrugged.

"Maybe I go to an exclusive French doctor that zaps away my wrinkles." Jacob smiled.

"Why do you need to work if you're that rich?" I glared playfully at Jacob and the smile never left his face. "And even so, there's only so long you can use that excuse. No one's going to believe you're seventy when you still look no older than twenty." My eyes sparkled.

"You think I look twenty?" Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"No, you don't look twenty. You could pass for seventeen at best right now. But then again, a lot of teenagers can pass for older than they are." I pouted.

"Even so, we need ID for everything these days." Jacob started laughing really hard again. He shook his head a moment, then surprised me by pulling back my covers and lifting me out of bed. We were at the cottage so daddy was in the other room. I half expected to hear daddy yelling for Jacob to put me down, but so far I didn't hear anything from the living room.

"You better get ready. You have a half hour before school starts." I sighed.

"It's not like we're doing anything but reviewing today." Jacob shrugged.

"You never know. I had an English teacher that gave us an in-class review on the last day of school. And she counted it as part of our final grade. God, I hated that woman." I turned to look at him with a smile.

"Is that, by chance, the teacher whose hand you glued to the floor?" Jacob gave me a sly smile.

"Maybe." I giggled and started walking out of my room to the bathroom.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side." Jacob followed after me for a moment.

"Watch your back if you make me mad, Ness. I might staple your pajamas to your mattress while you're still wearing them." I closed the door in Jacob's face with a big smile on my face. He continued talking unfazed as I went about my morning routine. "Or maybe I could put frogs in your room. You hate frogs, right? Or maybe put dead rats in your closet and drawers." I opened the door to the bathroom, face cream still on my face, and put my hands on my hips to pretend to look mad. Jacob started laughing when he saw the bluish face cream on my face.

"You put any dead animals in my stuff, and it'll be the end of you." Jacob was forcing back a laugh by biting his bottom lip.

"You got it, Nessie. I wouldn't want to inflict the wrath of the evil Olay monster." I snapped a towel at Jacob and closed the door again. I heard daddy yell at Jacob to leave me alone and heard Jacob walk away with a booming laugh.

When I was done washing my face and brushing my teeth, I walked back to my room and picked out some clothes. I didn't feel like dressing up, but it being the last day of school, I knew Alice would chew me about looking my best. So I picked a pair of light wash skinny jeans, a light purple t-shirt and purple high heeled peep toe shoes. Alice said it wasn't supposed to rain today. It would only be really dreary. I pulled half my hair back into my Plumeria comb and let the rest of my hair hang free. I didn't put on a lot of makeup. Only concealer that I didn't really need and some eye liner and mascara with a shear gloss.

When I was ready, I walked out of my room and walked towards the living room where momma, daddy, and Jacob were sitting on the couch waiting for me to come out. They were all driving me to school today. Daddy, momma, and Jacob rose from the couch when I was walking over to them.

When we got to the car, Jacob sat in the back seat with me as we drove to school. Momma and daddy said that they would drive Jacob to work and that his car would be there so he could drive back home. When we got to the school, Jacob, momma, and daddy come out of the car and hugged me goodbye. As I was hugging daddy, I heard someone walking up to me.

"Is this your mom and dad?" I looked over my shoulder and saw Aida standing behind me with her arms crossed and a smile. I smiled back.

"Yeah. These are my parent." I looked at daddy and over at momma. "Daddy, momma, this is Aida." They smiled back at Aida.

"Nice to meet you Aida." Aida nodded.

"Let's get to class. You don't want to be late." I laughed under my breath.

"Same to you. Isn't your first class on the other side of the school?" Aida shrugged.

"Spanish can wait." I smiled.

"¿Preparas para su examen final?"

"What?" Daddy and I laughed lightly.

"I just proved Spanish can't wait." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. See you in science." I nodded and she ran off to reach her class before the bell rang. I hugged everyone one last time before I started running to get to my first class. I managed to get there before the bell rang and class started without a hitch. Everyone was just reviewing for next week's finals. During lunch and study hall, the conversation was dictated by talk of what the summer plans were. But something else came up.

"You know what we should do, Nessie?" Madison asked me. I looked at her with a questioning look.

"I don't know, what?"

"We should go to the drive-in." Some in the group agreed where others disagreed. Mackenzie spoke.

"I hate going to the drive-in. Everyone's a couple at the drive-ins. No one's even watching the movie, they're just making out the whole time."

"Not everyone." Said Candy. Mackenzie rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, you're the one that was asked to leave the premises, remember? You're the one that was caught with your top off and pants pulled down with your boyfriend's…."

"Okay, changing the subject." I called out a little louder than necessary. "Why would you want to go to a drive-in in Washington of all states with all the rain?" Madison shrugged.

"Just go in a hooded car and you're fine. Besides, there's something about a drive-in that feels old American is all. And no one has to go if you don't want to. I was thinking it could just be a friend's night out." Meagan intervened.

"Who would drive?" Everyone looked at Coralline, who then rolled her eyes.

"Suck it you guys. Suck it long, and suck it hard." With that, Coralline took her tray and walked away to the garbage. Candy rolled her eyes.

"She could've just said no." Madison looked around the table a moment, then continued.

"Anyway, who's going?" She looked around the table and watched for who was going. Matt raised his hand first. Then Kevin, then Candy and Meagan. When I didn't raise my hand, Madison looked at me with crushed eyes. "Please Nessie." I sighed.

"Really, Madison, I think I should just call outs on this." Madison shook her head.

"No way, Nessie. You can go with someone." She looked around the table. "How about Matt?" Matt looked up and had a silly grin on his face. I didn't look for long before I looked back at Madison.

"That's not necessary, Madison." Madison started pouting her face.

"Please? Pretty Please?"

"Yeah, Nessie. Come with us." Meagan said. Soon, everyone, especially Matt, were begging me to go with them. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"I'll go if Aida goes." Aida looked up from her lunch and gawked at me angrily.

"Come again." I then heard Candy make a groan of anger.

"Seriously, if Aida's going, count me out." Candy said a little louder than needed. I avoided smiling. Forcing Aida to go was already having its perks. Aida sneered at Candy.

"And that's supposed to discourage me?" Candy glared at Aida and I sighed. Then Candy looked at Meagan.

"Looks like we aren't going, Meagan." Meagan looked at Candy, then rolled her eyes and went back to her lunch.

"Whatever." Madison looked around the table a moment, then started talking again.

"If Aida promises not to bitch about the movie the whole time we're there, then she can go."

"I'm not making any promises, Mads." Madison sneered at Aida.

"It's Madison."

"A leech by any other name would still suck blood." I glared at Aida, trying to tell her to shut up with my eyes. Madison got offended.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aida shrugged.

"I figured it was obvious." I grabbed Madison 's arm to still her and threw a piece of my orange that I wasn't eating at her.

"Stop it Aida." I looked at Madison . "She won't say a word during the movie. I promise. She won't call you a Lesbo, she won't call you Mads and she certainly won't ruin the movie for us if she's already seen it." I looked at Aida again. "Got it, Aida?" She rolled her eyes.

"You're the one that begged me to go."

"Got it, Aida?" I said a little louder at her. Aida sighed.

"Got it." I smiled.

"Good." I looked at Madison again. "So when did you want to go and what movie are we seeing?" Madison looked at me tentatively a moment before answering.

"Well, I was thinking we could go tonight. Or tomorrow night if that's more convenient for everyone. And for the next week, the Drive-in is showing _Cryptic Haunting_ and _How to Kill a Hooker_."

"Are they any good?" Madison shrugged.

"I heard _How to Kill a Hooker_ was really funny. Apparently, this guy wants a date to a party and hires a hooker but he can't pay for her so he has to be his slave for a while."

"That sounds kind a gay." Aida blurted out. I sighed. Madison gave Aida a dirty look again. "What's _Cryptic Haunting_ about? I heard it got good ratings." Madison was silent a moment and Matt answered Aida's question.

"It's about this man that moves into a new apartment, but the land lord never told him about a family that lived there. The family that lived there a few years before him was a really religious family, but one day the father went insane and murdered his family and himself. So the guy who moves in starts seeing threatening notes written on the wall or something."

"Now that sounds interesting." Madison sighed.

"And we're seeing _How to Kill a Hooker_ whether you like it or not, you hear me?" Aida rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But there better be dead hookers or I'll be pissed."

"Aida, it's a comedy. There won't be any dead hookers." I said.

"Then why the hell are they calling it _How to Kill a Hooker_? It's misleading."

"A lot of titles are misleading, but the movie still ends up being good."

"I still say it sounds like a stupid movie." Then the bell to end that period rang.

I got up from the table and picked up my lunch and walked to the garbage to throw it away. I told Aida to go ahead of me to science and that I'd catch up to her in a bit. I also mentioned that I had a few words for her when we got to class. As I was at the garbage can, I felt someone behind me and looked around. Matt was standing behind me with his lunch to throw away. I moved aside, but he stopped me as he threw away his lunch.

"Can I ask you something, Nessie?" I looked around to face him.

"What?" He put the tray on top of the garbage can and started walking in the direction our classes were in.

"I was wondering, since we're all going to the drive-in and all." He paused a moment and started scratching his head. "Would you like to go……you know……….as my date? We wouldn't do anything, I was just thinking it would be fun you know." I sighed.

"Matt, I'm flattered, really, but…" He interrupted me.

"Are you seeing someone right now?" I was about to answer his question, but I stopped myself. I was glad that he didn't notice the pause.

Aida was the only one that knew about me and Jacob. Telling anyone else would mean explaining to them that I was a 'fifteen' year old girl dating a twenty one year old. For starters, we could get in a lot of trouble for it. Whether I was a willing girlfriend or not, it was technically statutory rape. That would lead to a lot of problems and explaining that neither of us could do. So I swallowed my conscience and lied.

"No, it's not that." I was uncomfortable, and I knew it showed.

"Then what's the problem?" I looked at him a moment and thought about an excuse. Any excuse. Then I found one. I figured daddy wouldn't mind in the least. I only wish that I could call him what he is.

"My…….uncle. He doesn't want me to date."

"Why?" I shrugged.

"He says I'm too young. He wants me to wait until I'm at least eighteen or something." Matt's face fell.

"Oh. So it's not that you don't like me?" His face lit up a little and I sighed.

"No, Matt. It's not that I don't like you." When I reached the building I needed to be in, I waved goodbye to Matt and ran in.

When I was in the class, I still had a minute before the bell rang. I sat next to Aida like usual and waited for her to ask what was going on. When she didn't, that took me by surprise. Then class started, and the teacher went on with his lecture. Shortly after Mr. Peters started class, I felt my phone vibrate. I took it out of the pocket of my purse where it was and looked at the text.

_I'm assuming Matt worked up the Balls to ask you out again?_ I looked at Aida. She was looking forward 'listening' to Mr. Peters. I looked to see if he was looking in our direction before I answered the text.

_You knew about this? Why didn't you warn me?_ I sent the text and waited a moment for a response. I heard her tap the buttons of her phone and press send. I received the text shortly after.

_I didn't know for sure that he would. I assumed. Are you telling me I was right?_

_Yes, you were right. He asked me if he and I could go on the Drive-in trip as a couple._

_Did you tell him you have a boyfriend?_

_I can't tell him about Jacob._

_Why the hell not?_

_Why the hell do you think?! Jacob is eighteen years older than me for starters. And even with people thinking I'm fifteen, that's still a six year age difference, not to mention statutory rape._

_You could always lie and say that Jacob still goes to high school on the reservation or something._

_Aida, this is Forks. 3120 people. They'd figure out I was lying._

_How? The Quileute Reservation is far enough away that no one would be the wiser if they didn't look into it._

_That's the problem. They would look into it. It's a small town, Aida. People have nothing better to do than to look into things. And my grandpa doesn't know about this. What happens when someone asks my grandpa how me and Jacob are doing as a couple and he tells them 'they can't be going out. Jacob's twenty one going on twenty two and Nessie's only three going on four.'?_

_Sweet mother fuckballs, you think too much. _

_I'm trying to make sure that Jacob doesn't get in trouble._

_Have you two had sex?_

_What?_

_Have..you two..had sex!_ I sighed in aggravation at that text.

_No, we haven't._

_Then it's not statutory rape then. They can't accuse him of raping you if you two have never gone at it to begin with. _

_The legal system doesn't see it that way Aida._

"Nessie." I looked up and saw Mr. Peters looking at me.

"Yes, Mr. Peters?"

"Can you tell me how many miles away from the sun the earth is?" I sighed.

"It varies from 9.3 to 9.4X10^7 power depending on what part of the orbiting process the earth is at." He looked at me a moment.

"Stop texting in class, okay." I nodded.

"Sorry." Mr. Peters went back to whatever he'd been doing at the front of the class. When the bell rang, we left for gym. We didn't end up changing today, so the whole period was spent with everyone sitting on the bleachers doing nothing.

"Do you think your uncle could drive us or something?" I looked at Madison when she spoke. I initially thought of Emmett and Jasper, but then realized she meant daddy.

"I don't think so. We don't have a car big enough to carry everyone." In truth, Emmett's Jeep would probably due, but Emmett isn't likely to be a chaperone for a bunch of teenagers. Madison went deep into thought.

"None of us have a big enough car either. And my parents are busy tonight." Aida intervened.

"Do you think Jacob could drive us?" I looked at Aida with shocked eyes. Madison didn't see my face and only looked confused.

"Jacob who?" Aida looked at Madison.

"Jacob Black. He lives down in the Quileute Reservation. He's a friend of Nessie's." Aida winked at me when she said that part. Madison once again didn't notice, then perked up.

"Oh, Nessie, do you think he could?" I shook my head.

"I doubt it. He's busy." I said the last part really close to Aida's face. Aida smirked.

"I'm sure he is, Nessie. I'm sure he is." I glared at Aida while Madison continued.

"Do you think he'll be free tomorrow? I've already checked with everyone else and our driver options aren't looking so good." I sighed and looked at Madison.

"I'll ask him." Madison smiled and hugged me. I patted her arm that was around my neck.

"Oh, Nessie, thank you. It'll be lots of fun, I promise." I shrugged.

"Sure, sure." Later, when the period was finally over, I went to my locker and got my notebooks and review sheets that I'd left in there and went to the parking lot when I had everything.

I waited a few minutes before I saw Jacob's car pull up the parking lot and stop at the curb in front of me. I walked to the car and let myself in. Jacob started driving out of the parking lot and sped up when he got onto the road. I gave him a kiss on the cheek when we were on the road and rested my head on his shoulder.

"So how was school?" I smiled and touched my hand to his. I showed him the day and he laughed when I showed him gym class. "Were you even planning to ask me?" I shrugged.

"I just did, didn't I?"

"Will that Matt kid be going?" I nodded.

"That's kind of the reason I want you to be there and not daddy. I get the feeling Matt's thoughts will get him in a lot of trouble." Jacob sneered.

"And you think I'd be any different?" I shook my head.

"Not necessarily. I just know that you won't react as violently since you can't read his possibly dirty thoughts. I never said I knew that's what he was thinking, I only said that it was possible he was thinking it."

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to get mad at him for hitting on you." I smiled.

"That's why I think you should be there. I wasn't keen on the idea at first, but putting Matt into the equation, I think you're the best person to take with to make sure nothing happens. It's like Emmett always told me. 'Men always protect their toys.'" Jacob laughed.

"So you think that I think you're a toy?"

"You know what I mean. 'A boy doesn't want a toy until another boy wants to play with it' could also apply in this case." Jacob smirked.

"Well, from what I know, no other boy has you, and yet I still want you."

"I said wants to play. That means they're trying to get a chance to play with me, but you won't let them." Jacob muttered under his breath.

"Damn straight I won't let 'em." I smiled and nuzzled his shoulder.

"That's why I want you to drive us." Jacob looked forward in silence for a moment before he sighed.

"Alright, I'll drive you guys. But I swear to god, if any of those kids have sex or bring booze or smoke in my car.."

"They won't." Jacob looked at me skeptically.

"Ah huh. How much you want to bet Aida smokes like a chimney?"

"I don't need to bet. The girls reeked of Marlboros from the day I met her." Jacob gave me a strange look, then looked forward again.

"Wow. I only knew she smoked." I giggled.

"Lots of other kids at the school smoke, and they smoke a lot of different brands. After a while, I've come to be able to tell the difference. For example, Aida likes to smoke Marlboro lights and Aida's sister Coralline likes New Ports."

"Coralline smokes?" I nodded, then shook my head.

"No, she used to. The smell just lingers is all." Jacob shrugged.

"That sucks." He was silent a moment before he chuckled lightly to himself. "So what time am I to pick everyone up, milady?" I giggled and smacked his arm.

"I still need to text Madison and let her know that you're our designated driver." Jacob smiled.

"And I mean it. No sex, no booze, and no smoking in my car. They can do that in the parking lot and get in trouble with the cops for all I care, but none of that shit in my car." I smirked.

"My, my. Overly strict much?" He smirked.

"You gave me this car Nessie and I fixed it up from head to toe. I'll be damned if a bunch of teenagers are going to ruin my car." I smiled and kissed Jacob's cheek. Then I let my hand brush down his arm until my hand was covering his on the wheel.

"How sweet of you to care." Jacob smirked and kissed the top of my head.

When Jacob and I got back to the houses, daddy already knew I was going to ask him about the drive-in and had an answer for me when we got in. He said as long as Jacob's going with to watch, that he was okay with it. I texted Madison later that day letting her know that Jacob could drive us. Jacob was taking on patrol tonight so he could switch times with Seth so he'd be able to go. I'd thanked him a million for it and he'd just rolled his eyes playfully and said that I owed him. Madison was happy to hear it and let me know that it was going to be her, Matt and Aida that were going for sure.

The next morning, I slept in as late as I could manage. It'd been a while since I'd slept in really late and I missed it a lot. When I did finally wake up, Jacob was lying next to me on my bed sitting above my covers and was close to me. I smiled at him when I saw him and he smiled back.

"You took your time getting up this morning." He said in a halfhearted mean voice. I pouted.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted a little time to sleep. Is that so wrong?" Jacob chuckled and I smiled.

"Good morning Nessie."

"Morning, Jacob. How was patrol?" Jacob shrugged.

"The same old quiet night. No nomads or unwanted family to worry about." I giggled.

"The Denalis are hardly unwanted family."

"I didn't mean them. I meant another family. More specifically, the one that lives in Peru." I looked at him confused a moment.

"You mean Brazil?" He shrugged.

"Same thing." I smacked his arm and laughed.

"They are not the same thing. They're two completely different countries that speak two completely different languages."

"Portuguese and Spanish aren't that different." I sighed.

"Is there a reason you're hounding Nahuel's family, or are you just in a bad mood today?" He sighed.

"Just a bad mood."

"And why are you in a bad mood?" Jacob looked away at the wall and looked like he was guilty about something.

"You'll think it's stupid." I shrugged.

"And don't I always laugh instead of criticize?"

"Sometimes you do." I raised an eyebrow.

"Name five." Jacob stared blankly for a moment. "Now tell me what's bothering you." Jacob finally looked away from the wall, then at me. He still had a guilty look on his face. But he did eventually say something.

"It's about that Matt kid."

"What about him?" Jacob looked like he was struggling to get the words out, but forced them to be put into words.

"I don't like that he's going to the drive-in tonight. I don't like that he asked you out and, honestly, I don't think he's given up on you just yet." Jacob went silent a moment before continuing. "It's not that I don't trust you. Let's get that part loud and clear." I nodded.

"It's clear."

"It's more the issue that……..god…um..." I smirked.

"Take your time Jacob." Jacob gave me a serious look, then sighed.

"I don't trust that he won't try anything, even with me and the others there." I sat up until I was sitting straight, then hugged Jacob reassuringly.

"Jacob, I won't let him do anything. Scout's honor. And if he tries anything, I'll stop him. And if you see him do anything that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to bark at him and tell him to back off. You know I won't mind." Jacob smiled lightly.

"I guess." I smacked his pecks and he smiled wider in an almost laugh. "Okay, fine. I know." I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"That's better." I let go of Jacob and got out of bed to go to the bathroom and do my morning routine. I then figured that I should take a shower too. "Where're momma and daddy?" Jacob stood from my bed and started following behind me slowly.

"They're at the house. They left when they realized you were sleeping in." I smiled and closed the door behind me when I reached the bathroom. "So back to my original question, what time are we leaving?" I splashed my face with water.

" Madison thinks there won't be any rain tonight, and seeing as you and I are going, there's no way of confirming that with Alice . But anyway, Madison wants to catch the seven o'clock showing."

"How long are the movies?" I shook my head as I scrubbed my face.

" Madison didn't say. I would assume both are about two hours."

"So we won't get home 'til around eleven?" I brought a washcloth to my face and started wiping off the face cream.

"It looks like it. Is that a problem?"

"No. I just don't want to get in trouble with their parents over a curfew or anything." I giggled.

"It feels weird having to go by a curfew doesn't it?" I heard Jacob laugh from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, it is. I don't think I've had a curfew since I was sixteen." I giggled before starting to brush my teeth.

"I suppose a werewolf has no room for a curfew, right?" Jacob laughed again.

"Nope. No time at all." Jacob was silent a moment on the other side of the door. When I spit out the tooth paste, Jacob spoke again. "How do you think you'll do on your finals?"

"I don't think I'll do too bad. I was able to move from Spanish 1 to Spanish 3 earlier this year. My teacher said if I get a perfect score that she'll scoot me to AP Spanish."

"And AP Spanish is…?" I opened the door when everything was put away and walked out.

"It's Advanced Placement Spanish." Jacob smirked.

"What class would you take after that? That only gets you to junior year." I shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I might just request an AP French class, then move on to an AP German class."

"Would they let you do that?"

"I don't see why not as long as I can prove that I know enough of the language to pass the class." Jacob laughed to himself and shook his head. "What?" Jacob took a minute to stop laughing before he smiled and answered me.

"You're deciding what AP classes you want to take and I was the dumbass that couldn't speak Spanish to save my life." I giggled.

"That's not true. I'm sure you could get the hang of Spanish if you tried hard enough." Jacob rolled his eyes playfully.

"Nessie, it's a miracle I can speak Quileute. If I hadn't started learning when I was little, I'd never get the hang of it. You learned it in three months." I smirked.

"Cause I'm awesome like that." Jacob laughed and I joined him. His bass laughter rang through the house combined with my high alto laugh.

Within the last few moments of Jacob laughing, he took me into his arms in a hug and I hugged him back. I took my arms from around his waist and reached my arms up so that my forearms were partially wrapped around his neck. Jacob bent over slightly to get a better grip of me and lifted me up so that my feet were dangling a foot or so off the floor. When I was up there, I smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"I love you, Ness . You're one of a kind." I smiled.

"I love you too. So are you." Jacob kissed my nose.

"Hardly." I kissed his nose.

"Why are you arguing with me?" Jacob smirked.

"I'm not arguing with you, hun. I'm just teasing you." I giggled to myself.

"In that case, I forgive you."

"I can die happy now." I smacked his cheek lightly and he started laughing. I glared halfheartedly at him until he stopped laughing. When he did stop laughing, he kissed my lips quickly.

I then wrapped my arms completely around his neck and kissed him back. Jacob followed my lead a moment before taking over. He licked my bottom lip and I let him in to do his usual prodding around. I did the same to him. I felt Jacob's breathing quicken and his heart start racing faster. I heard my body have the same reaction. Jacob's hold on me was tightening and so was my hold on him. I started pushing my loving thought into his head and let him hear how he was making me feel. Jacob groaned when I did that and I smiled triumphantly. Jacob took his lips away from mine then with a funny grin.

"Anyone ever tell you, you don't play fair?" I smiled.

"You might have. But you're one to talk." Jacob smirked.

"I'm trying to be responsible. You're the one that's constantly trying to undermine my efforts." I gasped lightly and pretended to be offended with a small smile still on my face.

"Why would you accuse me of such a thing?" Jacob gave me a skeptical look and rolled his eyes.

"So what do you want to do now?" I smiled.

"Let's go to the house and see what everyone else is doing." Jacob smiled and nodded.

"Sure."

We went to the house and saw what there was to do. Most of the house was out hunting. Alice and Jasper were the only ones home at the time. Jacob and Jasper ended up spending the day fighting outside. I let Alice play around with my hair and use me as a doll. I figured it was something to do until Jacob and I had to pick everyone up and get to the drive-in. Madison said that everyone would be at her house waiting for us to get there. Aida said she'd wait at her own house.

The drive-in theatre was near the Makka reservation, so we wouldn't need to leave too soon. Jacob and I left to pick everyone up at five thirty and took Emmett's Jeep. Alice promised that he wouldn't mind. I sat in the front with Jacob and everyone else stuffed themselves in the backseat. On the way to the drive-in, everyone was fascinated with Jacob, except Aida.

"So you're a friend of Nessie's?" Madison asked. Jacob didn't take his eyes off the road.

"Yeah."

"How do you two know each other?"

"Her..aunt..and I are best friends." I smiled. I was sure to remind Jacob before we left that Edward and Isabella Cullen were my aunt and uncle to everyone else.

"So you're a family friend?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. Pretty much." Madison kept asking questions after that while most everyone else was silent. I noticed Matt was glancing at me the whole time for the most part. But when he noticed me looking back, he would look away. I sighed.

We got to the Drive-in early so we were able to get a really good parking spot near the back. Then, at seven when the lot was completely filled, the movie started. _How to Kill a Hooker_ was the first movie to show. The scene opened with a guy working in a cubical looking miserable. Within five minutes of the movie, Aida'd already had enough.

"Nessie, come with me to get popcorn." I glanced at her, then looked at Jacob.

"Could you come with?" Jacob looked at me, glanced behind him, then looked at me again. He brought his face closer to mine and whispered his answer.

"No offense, Nessie. But I don't trust them not to do something to my car." I gave Jacob a look.

"You're so paranoid." Jacob shrugged and whispered again.

"What can I say?" I sighed and opened the car door and looked over my shoulder at Aida.

"Let's get that popcorn, Aida. Does anyone else want anything?" Everyone shook their heads. I looked at Jacob and he shook his head at my question too.

The food stand was near the front of the lot, so it took us a while to walk there. Walking at Aida's pace, it took ten minutes to get to the stand. The whole way there, Aida was talking about how stupid and predictable the movie already was. I didn't say much as we walked to the concession stand, knowing that I didn't have an opinion that was too much different than the one she had. When we got to the stand, Aida got herself some popcorn and a hotdog with ketchup and mustard and sauerkraut.

"Nessie, do you want anything?" I shook my head.

"I don't like anything they have." She shrugged.

"Suit yourself." Aida paid for her food and started walking in the direction of the car. "You don't want us here do you?" I gave Aida a surprised look.

"What do you mean?" Aida rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean. You want to be alone with Jacob so you and he can have a nice little date at a horror movie? You've been ogling him the whole time."

"No I haven't."

"Yes you have. It was like you were undressing him with your eyes."

"I was not undressing him with my eyes."

"I didn't say you were, I said it was like you were. There's a difference."

"That's not the point. Besides, it doesn't matter. It's not like I can get rid of you guys. You all have no ride home other than me and Jacob." Aida shook her head.

"Hot true. Conveniently, my boyfriend and his friends are here in the lot. I texted him at the beginning of the movie and he told me that they're near the front middle of the lot." I rolled my eyes.

"And you think everyone would be okay with letting your boyfriend drive them home?" She shrugged.

"I don't see why not." I sighed. My voice was sarcastic when I answered.

"Aida, if you can get everyone to agree to go to your boyfriend's car, then I will owe you fifty dollars." Aida's face lit up.

"Can I get that in writing?" I rolled my eyes and reached into my purse to get my wallet. I took out two twenties and a ten and handed them to Aida.

"If they're out of the car and driving home with you and your boyfriend by the time the horror movie starts, that's yours. No later than the opening credits, understood? Or you don't get to keep it." Aida smirked.

"Nessie, for this much, I'll have them out and away half way through the Hooker movie." I smiled.

"Sure you will Aida." I didn't think she'd be able to do it, in truth. Madison was attached to me like glue and Matt wasn't going to give up the opportunity to be on a movie 'date' with me. I'd have the fifty bucks back by the end of _How to Kill a Hooker_.

Aida and I walked back to the car with all her food in hand. It took us fifteen minutes to get back that time. When I got back, Madison was in the front passenger's seat. I opened the door to the passenger's seat of the car and she looked at me with a smile.

"When did you move up here?"

"While you were gone." I sighed.

"Can I have my seat back now?" Madison started pouting.

"Would it be okay if I stayed here for the rest of the movie? It's easier to see the screen from the front seat." She smiled and glanced over her shoulder. "You should sit next to Matt." Matt looked at me but looked away when he saw me look back. He was blushing. I heard Jacob growl, but it was low enough that Madison and the others couldn't hear it. I sighed.

"That's okay. I'll just sit next to Aida." She started giving me a pleading look. Then she brought her voice to a low whisper as she spoke again.

"Come on, Nessie. Matt really likes you. Why don't you give him a chance?" I glanced over at Matt to see if he heard us. He didn't appear to have heard. Jacob, on the other hand, wasn't happy to hear it. I saw him start to shake subtly. After looking at Madison for a moment, I sighed.

"Fine." With that, I got into the car and Aida followed after me. Matt looked at me when I stepped in and smiled. I smiled back politely.

"So, how do you like the movie so far?" He asked in an awkward and nervous voice. I shrugged.

"It's okay, I guess. I've never really been one for chick flicks, honestly."

"Me neither. I prefer action movies. You know, like Indiana Jones." I smiled awkwardly. Emmett and Jasper hated me for it, but I wasn't an Indiana Jones fan. The whole professor/world explorer thing seemed kind of stupid. Jacob wasn't too pleased with my dislike of Indiana Jones either.

"I prefer horror movies. Jacob and I will watch those and spend hours laughing at them." He gave me a weird look.

"You think they're funny?" I nodded.

"It depends on how you look at it. You have to know how to insult it I guess." I nodded a little.

"So are you and Jacob close?"

"Yeah, we are." Matt was silent again as he looked forward at the movie screen. I noticed Jacob looking at him through the rear view mirror every now and then, keeping an eye on us. About half way through the movie, Aida spoke.

"Guys." No one responded except me. I looked at her. When she didn't have everyone, she spoke again. "Hey Mads, Matt." Madison rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder at Aida with a frown.

"It's Madison."

"I don't care. Just listen." Madison turned her upper body in the seat to face Aida.

"What?" Matt looked at Aida too, leaning in a little to hear her better.

"My boyfriend's in the lot." Madison's face didn't change.

"And this matters to us why?"

"It matters because two of his friends came in a different car. They aren't staying to see _Cryptic Haunting_ and I sure as hell am not leaving before that movie starts." Madison sighed and looked at me.

"Nessie, you don't mind if we don't watch _Cryptic Haunting_ do you? I don't like scary movies and Matt doesn't like ghost movies." I looked around the car at everyone, especially Aida. She was giving me and encouraging look. Finally, I looked at Madison and smiled.

"Sorry, Madison. But I really want to see the scary movie." I suddenly felt something moving closer to my hand.

"I'll stay for the second movie. It can't be that bad." Then I felt Matt's hand move to cover mine. I tried not making a big deal out of it. Instead, I just moved my hand away and brought it to my lap. I heard Jacob growl low under his breath. I scooted up on the seat and put my hand on his shoulder, saying one thing, and showing him another.

"Jacob, do you mind, or would you rather they get a ride back with Aida and her boyfriend's friends?" _Jacob, when you answer, please don't yell. Be calm and he might just leave._ Jacob glanced at me then at Matt. His tone was a level sound, but I could tell it was harsh.

"Sorry kid. I take my horror movies seriously. And I don't want the movie ruined by someone that doesn't want to watch it." Matt looked offended.

"What do you think I'm going to do, cry when a ghost pops out and says boo?" Jacob shrugged.

"I'm not risking it." I gave Jacob a look, letting him know that I didn't appreciate his tone. Jacob just smiled at me like a child that knew he did something wrong, but also knew that he wouldn't get in trouble. I sighed.

"Sorry Matt. He's my ride home. Honestly, his word goes." Matt looked down.

"Oh." Madison looked at me with a pout.

"But, Nessie, I don't want to drive home with Aida's friends." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Fuck, Madison, they're not going to bite you. Just stay out of their way and they'll stay out of yours."

"Yeah, after they rape me and leave me on the street for dead."

"They're aren't going to rape you and leave you on the street for dead. They're chicks. That aren't lesbians." Madison glared at Aida. I sighed and touched both their arms.

"Okay, that's enough. Madison, nothing will happen. I wouldn't suggest you go with them if I didn't think it'd be okay. And Aida……stop being a bitch." I saw Jacob smile, holding back a laugh. Aida smiled.

"I'm not being a bitch, Nessie. I'm being thoughtful."

"Ahuh. I'm sure." Madison interrupted.

"I'm not driving home with your friends and that's final." Aida looked at Madison again.

"No. You are driving home with my friends and that's final. I'll even tell them to take you out to get ice cream if that'll make you happy."

"I don't want any ice cream."

"Good, then they can just take you home. They're leaving after the hooker movie, so you won't have to sit through about three painful hours of ghosts and screams. My boyfriend came in a separate car, so I can stay with him and watch the scary movie, and Nessie and Jacob can stay and watch the movie too."

"I'll tolerate it."

"No you won't. You'll start crying near the beginning and ruin the whole movie."

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will. Remember when your dad took you to see _Crosshairs_? I couldn't even enjoy the beginning of the carnage because you were sobbing cause the zombies were scary. Your dad had to take you out of the theatre with everyone watching."

"I was ten."

"And five years hardly makes a difference. I'm sure Jacob and Nessie don't want to need to drive your balling ass home and I sure as all fucking hell won't put up with it." I sighed and shook my head in my hands.

"Aida, shut up." Madison glared at Aida.

"Fine, then. At the end of this movie, I'll just call my mom to come pick me up." I looked at Madison.

"Really Madison, you don't have to do that." Madison smiled at me and shook her head.

"It's okay, Nessie. It's not your fault. My mom will come and drive me and Matt home. You stay and enjoy the rest of the movie."

"Are you sure?" Madison nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She looked at Matt. "You okay with it?" He looked at me a little sadly, then back at Madison and sighed.

"Sure." Madison smiled and him and me, then looked forward to watch the rest of the movie. Twenty minutes before the movie was to end, Madison called her mom and told her that she needed her to drive her and Matt home.

Madison and Matt left the car when the ending credits started and Aida left to go down the lot and find her boyfriend's car. I left the back seat and came back to the front seat. Jacob smiled when I got to the front and reached over to kiss me. I kissed him back. When Jacob pulled away, he was smiling at me.

"I'm not going to lie, Nessie. I'm glad they're gone." I smiled.

"Even Aida?" Jacob rolled his eyes at me playfully.

"Especially Aida. And Matt." Jacob face twisted slightly in anger when he said Matt. I sighed.

"Jacob, I didn't let him do anything, as I promised I would." Jacob smirked and brought his face closer to mine again.

"Good." I smiled as he kissed me again.

"I never took you to be the jealous type." Jacob smiled and kissed my nose.

"All men are. They just vary on how they handle it. And I think I handled it pretty well if I do say so myself." I giggled and he laughed with me.

"I won't argue with that." Jacob smiled at me.

"I knew you wouldn't." Jacob kissed me again. I brought both my hands to his face before I took my mouth away from him.

"Are we even planning on watching the movie?" Jacob looked at me arrogantly.

"Did you want to?" I shrugged.

"I wasn't opposed to the idea. The movie sounds really good." Jacob kept smiling at me.

"We could always go to a theatre in Port Angeles and watch it there later."

"Why do that when we could watch it now?" Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know."

"It's not like you and I wouldn't do the same in a regular movie theatre."

"You have a point I guess." I smiled and started moving closer to him until I was sitting on his lap in the driver's seat. Jacob pulled the seat as far back as it would go, which was a few inches at best, but I didn't mind.

"We could always do both." Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" I smiled and kissed his jaw. Then I rested my head on my nook with my arm around his waist and my left hand holding his free hand in mine. "Like this?" I nodded while looking at the screen.

"Exactly." Jacob smiled and kissed the top of my head, then rested his cheek on my head.

"Awesome." Shortly after Jacob and I went silent, I heard my phone go off. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Leave it." I shook my head and kissed his neck.

"It might be important." Jacob groaned and sat back in the seat.

"You owe me a kiss if it isn't." I giggled.

"Deal." When I reached for my purse, I pulled it with me as I got situated in Jacob's lap again. When I was comfortable, I reached into my purse and got my phone. I opened it and read the message that was from Aida.

_Am I good? I'm good. Looks like I get to keep that fifty bucks._ I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"You owe me a kiss." I looked at Jacob and kissed him.

"There." Jacob laughed and wrapped his arms around me. I started moving with him as he laughed.

"Sorry, Ness, you'll have to do better than that." Jacob tried coming closer, but I put two fingers on his lips to stop him.

"Fine, but you'll have to wait." Jacob laughed a little more as he leaned back onto the seat again. Meanwhile, I texted Aida back.

_Yes, Aida. You get to keep the fifty dollars. Now don't text me back._ I sent the message and put my phone on silent so I wouldn't hear it if she did text me back.

"Now?" I rolled my eyes playfully and smiled at Jacob.

"Yeah, now." Jacob smiled and brought his lips to mine.

Jacob and my lips moved together sensually for a moment before he licked my bottom lip and I opened for him. We both sighed when our tongues met and Jacob's hold on me tightened. I held onto him tighter and began to crush my mouth to his. Jacob didn't hold back as he did the same to me.

My hands moved up his chest and I bunched and released his shirt several times. Then my hands trailed up to his neck and into his hair. I pulled gently at his hair. Jacob's left hand moved over my hip and his right hand trailed up into my hair and he grabbed a gentle hold of my head. It felt like the world had melted away and that we were the only ones there. So it surprised me when music started blasting. Jacob and I looked up and saw the opening credits to _Cryptic Haunting_ begin.

"Jacob, the movie's starting." Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek.

"I can see that, Nessie."

"Then pay attention." Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck once more before he started watching the movie with me. Jacob and I watched thirty minutes in silence before I critiqued. "Why didn't he find it suspicious when the land lord didn't tell him what was wrong with the place?" Jacob shrugged.

"Because the story wouldn't go anywhere if he did. It's either make him ignorant or make him stupid. And I'm afraid stupid tends to ruin the movie." I smiled.

"I suppose." We waited longer before speaking again. Jacob commented on the first threatening note.

"You know, you'd think that alone would make him want to get out of that house." I shrugged.

"He's ignorant remember?"

"No, that's stupid. Like I said, stupid tends to ruin things. I can honestly say that any other person would have to good sense to leave if that sort of stuff started happening in my house."

"Well, Jacob, some people like to know the whole story."

"Who cares. Last time I checked, a poltergeist was something to avoid." I giggled.

"And last time I checked, vampires were too." Jacob started tickling me and my laugh ringed through the car.

"That's different. You're only half vampire."

"My daddy isn't." Jacob gave me a look.

"Once again, that's different. And I was opposed to it at first."

"Were you?" Jacob nodded.

"I wouldn't have been so against it if I'd known you'd come out of it, though." I smiled at him and tucked my head into my nook and let my left hand wonder up his chest as I continued to watch the movie.

At the end of the movie, the guy was trying to fight off some ghosts that suddenly showed themselves before him and he was failing miserably. He then started running through the apartment hallways screaming and no one was coming out of their homes to help him. Even for a scary movie, I found that bizarre. Then the movie ended with him running off the edge of the building and dying when he hit the ground.

"That was stupid." I looked at Jacob, then back at the screen.

"Yeah, it was. That ending was disappointing."

"Yep." Jacob brought his hand to my chin and made me look him in the eyes. Jacob had a teasing, loving smile and I smiled back. "Don't you wish you'd listened when I said we should just kiss?" I glared playfully and smacked his chest.

"Shut up." Jacob laughed and kissed me.

"Do you want me to take you to the house or to my place?" I smiled.

"Daddy wants me back at the house. He's going to help me study tomorrow." Jacob looked surprised.

"What do you need to study for?" I shrugged.

"I asked him. I want to be prepared. Daddy remembers all this stuff."

"Of course he does. He's lived through everything you studied in history." I smacked Jacob's arm and he laughed.

"He wasn't alive for the battle of Thessaly. He was born 1901." Jacob smirked.

"Fine. But he lived through two of the most studied wars in American history."

"He was human for the first world war. So I don't know how much of it he remembers from personal experience." Jacob shrugged.

"He might. He remembers that he and his dad worked in a shoe factory and that his dad was British and his mom was Polish."

"He could remember that from the pictures he has."

"I guess." I scooted out of Jacob's lap and he moved the seat up the few inches he'd been able to move back and started the car. "I'm sorry about earlier. You know, with Madison and Aida." I shrugged.

"It's normal. Those two never get along."

"I can tell. Why do you bring them together so often?"

"I don't know. I tend to think of Aida as a security blanket more or less. When Madison gets out of control, Aida beats her back down to earth."

"When you put it that way." Jacob was finally able to get out of the lot and onto the road to head back to the house. When we got back, everyone was home from hunting. Daddy and momma smiled and waved and asked how the movie was. For momma's benefit, I said my opinion out loud.

When it was time for bed, Jacob walked me to the cottage and waited in my room for me to finish my nightly routine. When I was washed and ready for bed, Jacob tucked me in and kissed me sweetly.

"Night, Nessie."

"Jacob."

"Yeah?"

"Would you stay? At least until I fall asleep?" Jacob smiled at me.

"Sure." I smiled at him I gave him a goodnight kiss.

It wasn't a quick kiss. Our lips moved together and I sucked on his bottom lip as he sucked on my top lip. My hands went to his cheeks and his went to mine. Jacob licked my lips and forced his way in. When my mouth was open, he licked the roof of my mouth and made me giggle from the tickling feeling. Then he ran his tongue along my teeth, then met my tongue. Then I heard daddy clear his throat in the other room. I'd been so lost I hadn't paid any attention to the front living room. Jacob and I laughed lightly and looked at each other with a smile.

"Goodnight, Nessie."

"I love you." He kissed me one last time. The kiss was sweet, tender, and over too soon.

"I love you too, Nessie. With all that I am." I smiled at him and kissed him sweetly once before I let myself get comfortable. When I was comfortable, Jacob let himself into my bed and held onto me in a warm embrace. I finally fell asleep in Jacob's arms.


	5. Seasons in the Sun

**Seasons in the Sun**

It was finally summer. I was glad to get to have a few weeks to be free and Jacob had two weeks off work. The finals seemed pretty easy, so I'm not worried about those. My Spanish teacher already assured me that I'd have a spot next year in an AP Spanish class. I got teacher recommendation to skip onto biology and Trigonometry. Momma and daddy and the others were proud to hear all that, but at the same time, they didn't show the least bit of surprise.

Jacob was proud of me too. But his reaction was a little more exaggerated. First he'd looked at me like he didn't believe me. When I assured him that I wasn't lying, even though I probably didn't need to convince him anyway, he started laughing. He teased that if I kept this up, I'd be able to graduate from high school in two years. And the more I thought about that, it started sounding like a good idea. When I asked daddy about that, he just patted my head and told me to take it one step at a time.

After a few days of being off for summer, daddy started acting a little weird. He looked like was hiding something from me. It wasn't anything bad, at least, from what I could tell. He would just give Jacob a weird look and give me a small smile afterwards. I finally asked Jacob about it.

"Nessie, how should I know why your dad's giving me weird looks? He always looks at me weird."

"No he doesn't."

"Yeah he does."

"Only when you're hiding something. So what are you hiding?" Jacob looked shocked and shrugged.

"I'm not hiding anything. What makes you think I'm hiding something from you?"

"Because I know you. And with what I know of you, you have a tendency to talk less when you're hiding things."

"That's not true."

"Jacob, you've hardly said a word since you've come to the house." Jacob shrugged.

"Maybe I don't have a lot to say." I stared at Jacob a minute as he took a sip of water. I sighed.

"Fine. You'll tell me eventually." Jacob looked like he was about to say something in his defense, but I walked out of the kitchen before he could say anything.

Jacob didn't bring it up again after that. I didn't either. I figured that whatever it was, it was something cool and Jacob wanted to surprise me. So I waited for him to tell me what he was planning and just rode the wave. A few days later, some of my clothes were going missing. I wanted to ask about it, but once again, I figured I'd find out eventually. One day, Jacob asked daddy if it was okay if I spent the night at his house, to which daddy said was okay.

When Jacob and I got to his apartment, he went to the kitchen counter and left his keys and wallet on top. I put my purse on the kitchen counter and went to the fridge to see if Jacob had a jar of capers or sauerkraut. Sure enough, there was a full can of sauerkraut in the door of the fridge. When I had that, I went to the drawer, took out a fork, and started nibbling on it. Jacob came into the kitchen and looked through the fridge to see if there was anything he wanted to eat. When he found nothing appealing, he opened the freezer and took out a brown package. He went to the drawer that had the plastic bags, took out a large one, and brought it to the sink where he filled the plastic bag with something. When he was done, he turned on the water and clogged the sink with the stopper. Then he walked behind me and wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head when he was right behind me.

"Could I ask you to do something for me?" I smiled and continued looking at the sauerkraut.

"And what would that be?" I felt Jacob smile and kiss my neck.

"Seth took Alyssa fishing the other day and they caught a lot of cod and trout. I was hoping you'd fry it for me." He kissed the hollow below my ear. "Since you do it so well."

I smirked and pocked a little at the jar. I took one more forkful of sauerkraut and ate that before closing the jar and turning around in Jacob's arms. When I was facing him, I wrapped my arms around his neck. Jacob rested his forehead on mine and kissed my nose, trying to soften me up a little. I sighed.

"Please, Nessie?"

"Sure, sure." Jacob chuckled a little at my choice of words. "So how much did he give you?" Jacob shrugged.

"Not too much."

"How much?" I said a little more sternly. Jacob gave me a guilty smile.

"Fifteen trout, seven cod." I stared at Jacob wide eyed.

"And you're thawing all that?" Jacob shrugged again.

"I was thinking I could have some for lunch later." I looked at Jacob and he looked at me. I rolled my eyes playfully and smacked Jacob's arm.

"Fine. Do you want it to be hot or are you not in the mood for spicy food tonight?" Jacob smiled.

"Spicy food's fine." I smiled back and he let go of me and took the can of sauerkraut in his hand. "Are you finished with this?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I moved around him and looked in the bottom cabinet where Jacob kept all the spices. I got out some flour, chili spice, cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder and mixed it all together in a large plastic ziplock bag.

It didn't take long for the fish to thaw at least, so I had Jacob's dinner ready by the time it was seven. When I put the food on the table, Jacob turned on the DVD player and put in one of his b-rated scary movie. When it got to the main menu, he pressed play and the movie started. Jacob looked at me from the living room area and motioned his head for me to bring the food in there. I sighed and took the plate to the room and placed the fish on the coffee table. When it was on the table, I sat next to Jacob and his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

"We're watching _Deep Rising_?" Jacob nodded and smiled as he went forward, me moving with him, and grabbed one of the fish. Jacob looked at the table a moment, then put the fish back down.

"I'll be back. I forgot tartar sauce." I smiled at him as he got up from the couch to go to the kitchen. He was back in seconds with a bowl and bottle of tartar sauce. He wrapped his arm around me again after pouring some sauce into the bowl and taking a piece of fish.

"How is it?" Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Great. I think it might actually be better than Harry Clearwater's fish fry. And mind you, that's a bold statement." I smirked.

"Well, I'm honored." Jacob gave me an arrogant smirk.

"You should be." I smacked Jacob's arm and he started laughing. "I'm teasing you. You know that." I smiled.

"That doesn't mean I can't smack you. Maybe I should start biting you again." Jacob gave me a playful glare.

"Do your worst, Cullen." I glared playfully back at him and jumped on him, wrapping my arms tightly around his shoulders and gently biting all over his neck and his ear.

Jacob started laughing and tried, with little effort, to push me off him. Jacob was laughing with every nip I took at his ear and his neck. In his efforts, he fell off the couch and landed on the floor with me still biting his neck. I started laughing too, and I couldn't bite him anymore. Jacob and I kept laughing, me lying on his chest moving with the vibrations of his chest. It was better than any ride at any theme park. Eventually, Jacob rolled over so that my back was on the floor and he was on top of me, still laughing lightly. I was giggling as we looked into each other's eyes.

"Was that your worst?" Jacob mocked me lovingly.

"Not even close." I said in a halfheartedly threatening voice. With that said, I reached my head up and gently bit his bottom lip. I bit my top lip in returned and supported himself above me on his elbows. We were both smiling through the kiss and I began giggling again.

"What's so funny?" I giggled a little longer before I shook my head gently and answered him.

"Only we could ever tease like that." Jacob smirked and kissed my nose.

"Damn straight, Nessie." We looked into each other's eyes for a moment before we heard a piercing scream come from the TV. We looked towards the flat screen to see what part of the movie it was on. It was still the beginning, before they found the captain and his crew. The Australian bad guy had just been eaten by the monster.

"Do you think there's really a monster like that in the ocean?" Jacob looked at me, thought about it, and shrugged.

"I doubt it. But, hey, you never know." I smiled.

"Anything's possible, right?" Jacob chuckled and nodded his head.

"Yeah, Nessie. Anything's possible." Jacob and I smiled at each other. Then he gave me a sweet kiss before lifting himself up and standing on his knees and took my hand to pull me up with him. We continued watching the movie again once we were seated on the couch.

Jacob finished half his plate of fish and left the rest for later, as I'd asked him to. The movie was only half way done when Jacob was finished eating. I was about to take the plate of food and dirty bowl to the kitchen, but Jacob said he'd do it. When he came back, we watched the rest of the movie. I couldn't help but laugh when the owner of the ship broke his leg. He kind of deserved it considering the circumstances.

When the movie was over, Jacob got up from the couch and went to the DVD player and took out the movie. I watched him as he did it. When he had the movie out and put back in its case, he walked the short distance to the bookshelf filled with movies and looked them over for a few minutes. Then he looked back at me with a smile.

"What are you in the mood for?" I smiled and looked at the selection from the couch. I motioned with my hand to ask Jacob to move to the side a bit so I could see everything. Finally, I shrugged and picked one at random.

"_Nightmare on Elmstreet_ sound good?" Jacob smirked.

"Which one? There're a million _Nightmare on Elmstreet_ movies." I shrugged again.

"I don't know. Surprise me." Jacob smiled at me, then turned to his shelf of movies and looked at all the Nightmare on Elmstreet movies he had, all of which were placed in order of their release date. He finally picked the one at the very front of the row. When he had it, he turned to face me and showed it to me.

"You can never go wrong with the original, right?" I smiled and giggled.

"Nope. The original's always the best." Jacob glanced at his shelf again, then faced me with a smile.

"We should watch _Disturbia _after this."

"Is it good?" Jacob nodded.

"It's a remake of _Rear Window_. It's one of the few good remakes. I mean, I still like _Rear Window_ more, but it took a lot of balls for the cast and crew of _Disturbia_ to try and measure up to _Rear Window_. And I will say that I liked it." I giggled.

"Bold and vulgar words." Jacob shrugged with a wide grin. I smiled and was silent a moment before speaking again. "What's it about?"

"It's about this kid that gets put under house arrest for punching his teacher. He and his friends think they witnessed his neighbor murder a women, so they start investigating it by sneaking into the guy's house and so on." I smiled.

"Sounds really good."

"It is." Jacob looked at both movies again, then at me. "In fact, let's just watch _Disturbia_. It's better."

"I won't argue." Jacob smiled and walked over to his DVD player to put in the movie. When it was in and he'd pressed play, he walked back to the couch and wrapped his arm around my shoulder again. I leaned into my nook and watched the movie mostly in silence.

Near the beginning of the movie, I took Jacob's free hand in both of mine and we entwined and untwined our fingers repeatedly and mindlessly. I found the party part of the movie to be a little corny, but at least it had a point. That was when they heard the gunshot that alerted Kale, the main character, that something wrong was going on at his neighbor, Turner's, house. I ended up liking the movie a lot. It wasn't on the level of _Saving Private Ryan_, _Shawshank Redemption_, or anything like that, but it was still really good. Cheers to Alfred Hitchcock. When the movie was over, Jacob kissed my cheek and I looked at him.

"So what'd you think?"

"It was good. Was _Rear Window_ really better?"

"I think it is, but that's probably because that's the one I grew up with. I've met people that see the remake before the original and they end up being really disappointed with the original."

"It happens I guess. Can you imagine watching the original _King Kong_?" Jacob chuckled.

"I have seen the original _King Kong_. My grandpa bought it at a flea market when I was one. That was before he died. Billy has it now." I nodded. Jacob got up and went to the TV to get his movie out. A question came to my mind. I'd always wondered this, but never remembered to ask.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a silly question?" Jacob smiled when he stood up and walked to the shelf.

"You know you can." I smiled.

"I was wondering. Why do you call your dad by his first name and momma calls grandpa by his name?" Jacob looked at me with a slightly surprised look. Then his face became thoughtful. Finally, he shrugged.

"I can't really say, honestly. I know Bella does it because that's how he's always been addressed when she was living with your grandma. Me…I don't know. I call him dad when I'm talking to him. But my mom never addressed him as my dad either. She just called him Billy." Another thought came to my mind.

"But isn't he your dad?" Jacob looked at me surprised again, then smiled at me.

"Yes, Nessie, he's my dad. It's just a matter of whether or not he's fathered one of my pack members too." This comment surprised me.

"Who?" Jacob was silent a moment. I stood up from the couch and walked over to him, placing my hands on his elbows.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." I shook my head.

"It's okay." Jacob sighed again.

"I don't know if I should tell you. It's a really complex matter." I held my hands in front of me and shook my head.

"I won't say a word to anyone. I promise. It'll just be between you and me. Not even daddy will hear me think about it." Jacob laughed humorlessly.

"No worries, Nessie. Edward already knows. And he told Bella all about it too." Jacob said that with a little bit of anger in his voice.

"Oh." Jacob looked at me again and his face became sad. He sighed heavily and held me close to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist in return and buried my face into his chest.

"Embry. His mom moved here from the Makah reservation while she was pregnant with him. We thought his father was a guy from the Makah reservation, but then he became a wolf, like us. So either Quil Ateara sr., Joshua Uley, or Billy Black is his father."

"You don't know who it is?" Jacob shook his head.

"Sam's father was never really there. He wasn't much of a husband or father, so we all prefer to think it's him. But none of us ever had the courage to ask." I lifted my head so that my chin was resting on his chest and I was looking at him.

"You don't want to know." It wasn't a question. I already knew the answer. This was something serious enough that Jacob would rather walk through hell and back than know the truth. Because the truth could be that Billy Black was Embry Call's father. Jacob gave me a half smile.

"No, I don't. It's more the principle of the matter than anything."

"I'm sorry I asked." Jacob shook his head into my hair.

"It's okay. I'm amazed that it hasn't come up somehow between you and Edward to be honest." I smiled.

"No. Daddy doesn't just tell me things. I usually have to ask or it has to apply to a situation." Jacob chuckled.

"That sounds like Edward." I giggled and Jacob smiled. When I was done laughing, Jacob lifted me up so that I was face to face with him and my feet were dangling a foot off the ground. I took my arms from around his waist and brought them around his neck.

"Why are you always making fun of daddy?" Jacob shrugged.

"We've always done that, especially when we hated each other."

"You two don't hate each other." Jacob kissed my nose.

"We used to Nessie. But you made us get along." I smiled.

"Of course I did." Jacob smiled and brought his lips to mine. I opened my mouth for him immediately and his tongue started to wonder. But the taste of fried fish still lingered on his mouth, and it wasn't pleasant at all. I took my mouth from him. Jacob looked confused.

"What's wrong?" I smiled to lighten the moment.

"You taste like fish." Jacob smiled and started laughing.

"What do you expect? I had fish for dinner not too long ago." I smiled and nodded.

"True as that is, Jacob, I would rather not kiss you when you taste like fish, which I don't like."

"So, what, you're not going to kiss me for the rest of the night?" I shook my head.

"I'll kiss you. I just need you to brush your teeth and get rid of that fishy mud taste before I do." Jacob gave me a playful glare, sighed, then put me down on my feet and walked to his rook. When he got to the bathroom, he shut the door. "I love you Jacob." I said so that my voice would be heard. Jacob grunted an answer and turned on the sink.

When I heard that, I walked to his room and hopped onto my side of the bed and waited for him to finish. I wasn't crazy about the taste of mint either, but it was better that fish. And his natural taste would overpower the mint soon enough.

I didn't try to find anything to do. I just sat on the bed and waited for Jacob to come out. I swayed a bit for the sake of having something to do in the mean time. I straightened out again when I heard Jacob turn off the sink. I smelled shaving cream along with the smell of the tooth paste. When Jacob came out, he was holding his clothes from today and was wearing his sweats. Jacob smiled and walked over to the bed after throwing his clothes into a hamper in his closet. When Jacob was standing next to my side of the bed, I smiled back.

"We better get to bed."

"Why so early? It's only midnight." Jacob chuckled.

"It's only midnight." He repeated my words with a laugh. Then he stopped and smiled at me lovingly. "We just need to go to bed now."

"Is there something going on tomorrow that we need to be well rested for?" Jacob smirked and kissed my nose.

"It's a surprise." I gave Jacob a critical look.

"You could just tell me now." Jacob shrugged.

"I could. But I won't. I want to surprise you."

"Can you at least tell me the occasion?"

"Summer. Do I need more reason than that?" I smiled and lifted myself so that I was kneeling on my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck. Jacob's hands trailed up my back and shoulders.

"Are we doing something at First Beach?"

"Maybe."

"Are we going to six flags, just you and me?"

"It's certainly a possibility." I giggled.

"Surfing?"

"Could be."

"You're not even going to give me a hint?" Jacob shook his head.

"If I gave you a hint, you'd figure it out." I shook my head.

"No, I won't think about it." Jacob chuckled.

"Ahuh."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. You'll have to wait until tomorrow. But trust me, you'll love it." I sighed.

"I better if you're keeping it from me." Jacob smirked and kissed me sweetly.

"You will. Now go get dressed for bed." Jacob then let go of me and walked around and got into bed. I hopped off and walked to my room to get my pajamas and went to the bathroom for my nightly routine.

When I was done and ready, I walked back into Jacob's room and hopped into bed with him. He pulled back the covers for so I could snuggle in. I rested my head on my nook when I was right next to him and his arm wrapped around my shoulders and held me close. I let my arm rest on his chest and tucked my other arm under the pillow.

"Get some sleep, Nessie." I smiled at him.

"You too, Jacob." He chuckled under his breath and kept looking at me with humored, then loving, eyes.

"You'll like what I'm hiding from you. Mark my words." I smiled and reached up to kiss his chin.

"I know I will."

"Good. Now let's get to sleep." I nodded.

"Sure, sure." Jacob smirked from my choice of words and I had to smirk too.

I reached up again so I could kiss his chin again. But I let my kisses wonder from his chin to his neck. Jacob half laughed, half sighed, when I started kissing his neck. When I reached the spot where his neck and shoulder met, I bit down and sucked gently. Jacob breathed in a harsh breath, but nothing startling. The hand that was on my back started pulling me closer and was traveling up my back and neck and into my hair where his fingers laced through my hair. I sighed.

Jacob let me suck on his neck for a few minutes, all the while playing with my hair with his laced in fingers. His other hand had started moving up my arm. The motion made me tremble pleasantly. I heard Jacob laugh under his breath when that reaction from me made him smirk.

After enjoying the one spot, I gave it one last tender kiss, then started dusting kisses back up his neck until I got to his ear. When I was there, I bit onto his ear and did the same thing to his ear as I had to his neck. I felt Jacob shiver and I giggled. When I started laughing, Jacob pushed me onto my back and propped himself on top of me on his elbows.

Jacob lowered his lips to mine in another tender kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried bringing myself closer to him as I brushed his bottom lip with my tongue. Jacob took my bottom lip and sucked gently and I did the same to him. But then Jacob took his mouth away, then gave me a sweet and tender kiss. He looked at me with a smile and I looked at him with the same loving gaze.

"I love you, Nessie." My smile widened.

"I love you too, Jacob." I reached up and kissed his lips again. He kissed me back and smiled. Then he fell to his back and pulled me onto his chest with my head on his chest. His chest was comfortable and the woodsy scent made me sleepy and serene.

"Goodnight, Renesmee." I reached and kissed Jacob's chin again.

"Goodnight." Jacob smiled, kissed my head, then without another word, turned off the lights. I kissed Jacob's chest before burring my face into his chest and letting myself fall asleep in Jacob's arms.

When I woke, Jacob wasn't holding me. The more my senses returned, I realized I wasn't even in Jacob's bed. I felt like I was moving and staying in place at the same time. I realized I was lying on leather. It smelled like Jacob's car. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob in the driver's seat with no music playing and no light coming into the car. I looked outside and wasn't surprised to see that it was another expected rainy day. Jacob glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back at him.

"Where are we going?" I noticed that we were on the highway. It wasn't a road that I recognized. Jacob smirked.

"San Diego." My eyes widened.

"San Diego, California?" Jacob nodded.

"The one and only."

"So this is my surprise?" Jacob smirked and nodded.

"Yep. This was your surprise."

"Are we driving the whole way?" Jacob nodded. "Just us?" Jacob smirked again and nodded.

"Yep. Just us."

"How'd you get daddy to agree to that?" Jacob chuckled a little under his breath.

"Bribery." I gave Jacob a strange look and held back a laugh.

"What bribe? If daddy wants something, he can easily go out and buy it himself." Jacob nodded.

"It wasn't something material."

"Than what did you do or what will you have to do."

"I had to promise not to keep you there for any longer than a week, no experimenting, and no sneaking into Mexico ." I giggled.

"What, may I ask, experimenting is daddy worried that I might do?" Jacob laughed.

"I think he's more concerned about me."

"Fine. What does he think you'd do?"

"Drugs or something. Honestly, I smoked pot once as a teenager and now suddenly he assumes I'll spoke it again any chance I get. I suppose he thinks California's a convenient place to do it. It would take Edward at least four hours by plan to come to San Diego and kick my ass, especially if I let you try it."

"Jacob, pot smells horrible. I need no other assurance that I wouldn't like it." Jacob gave me a teasingly lecturing look.

"And how may I ask do you know what pot smells like?" I smiled at Jacob's teasing.

"How do you think Jacob? I go to a high school in a town that's in the middle of nowhere and I practically had to inhale it during that Korn concert. And when ones in high school in a small town where options for entertainment are limited, sometimes they turn to something that will make them forget they live in the middle of nowhere."

"Where do they even get that stuff? I can't imagine there's a dealer in Forks." I shook my head.

"Aida said that some of her friends get it in Port Angeles ." Jacob smiled and rolled his eyes.

"I should've figured Aida was a pot person." I shook my head.

"She's not. She just smokes. She smells a little like pot, but it's not combined with her natural scent the same way it would with someone who does smoke pot. I think her boyfriend is the pothead."

"And I'm sure all those times you've met Andy assisted in your knowledge of such things." I giggled.

"He helped, yes. And he smelled harshly of booze. Vodka most often."

"I know that." Jacob and I were silent for a minute before I spoke again.

"How did he even get a job in that condition?" Jacob tried fighting back a hard laugh. It took him a moment to regain himself enough to answer my question.

"I ask him that every day, and you know what he always tells me?"

"What?" Jacob cleared his throat and made his voice more muffled so it sounded similar to Andy's voice.

"Hard fuck work, that's how I….what was the question?" Jacob and I started laughing. It sounded like something Andy would say.

It took a few moments for our laughter to die down. When it did, Jacob and I were silent a moment. I started looking out the window to see the scenery around us to try and guess where we were. It was still green all around us. The trees still had moss and it was still dreary and cloudy outside. I looked at Jacob again after taking in all the scenery.

"Where are we right now?"

"We just came into Portland. We reached Oregon forty five minutes ago."

"When did we leave?" Jacob smiled.

"Nine o'clock." I smiled and looked at the clock. It was now eleven thirty.

"How much longer do you think it'll take before we reach San Diego?" Jacob thought a moment before answering me.

"At the pace we're going, we should get there by tomorrow morning."

"What hotel are we staying at?" Jacob looked at me with a big smile.

"You'll see." I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Please just tell me." Jacob shook his head. "Sorry, Nessie. I want to surprise you. I think you'll like it a lot."

"Then tell me so I can appreciate it." Jacob shook his head.

"Sorry, Nessie." I sighed heavily and started looking out the window to watch the scenery.

Jacob went at least twenty miles over the speed limit the whole way there. Sometimes he would speed up when he wanted to get out of a certain area. Usually cities that were prone to traffic jams. Jacob stopped at a McDonalds when we reached Albany and he ate his food in the car as he drove back onto the highway going south. Jacob kept the radio off for the whole trip so I could sleep whenever I started feeling tired. Four hours after I'd woken up, I was asleep again. The feel of the car driving was soothing. I kept my eyes away from the window so the sun wouldn't hurt my eyes.

When I woke up again, the sun was down and I started seeing palm trees and deserts. Jacob was quietly looking ahead at the road as he drove and looked like he was dying to get some sleep. I smiled and yawned lightly with my hand over my mouth. Jacob saw me and smiled at me.

"How was your nap?"

"Pretty good. How far are we?"

"We just left Bakersfield. We should reach San Diego in about two more hours at most."

"Awesome." I looked over Jacob for a moment. He looked on the verge of sleep and he was starting to get bags under his eyes. "Did you get any sleep?" Jacob smiled and shook his head.

"No. I'm fine. I'll wait until we get there. I'm hoping we can get their really early in the morning."

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?"

"That's alright. You don't have your license with you anyway. It's only two more hours at most. I'll be fine."

"I don't think so. You look tired. It only takes for seconds to swerve and get into an accident at top speed." Jacob chuckled.

"That's why I have you to make sure I don't fall asleep."

"Jacob, you've been driving for almost twenty four straight hours. You need a break."

"I'll get a break when we reach San Diego." I was about to say more, but thought against it. Jacob was really tired. Tired wasn't the best state to have an argument with him in. He was more likely to get annoyed when he was dog tired.

I watched Jacob for the rest of the trip, making sure that he didn't fall asleep. I kept up a conversation so he would have something for him to think about and keep him awake. The more tired Jacob got, the more of a lead foot he started developing. Eventually, he was going at least a hundred over the speed limit. We managed to get to San Diego in a half hour because of it. Jacob slowed down when we got off the highway and onto a main street. Jacob was driving around like he was looking for something now. I saw the beach in the distance and was star struck. It was three in the morning and the moon was shining on the water beautifully. There were even people still on the beach engaged in varied activities. From what she could tell, some were dare-devil surfers taking advantage of the rougher tied early in the morning.

Jacob slowed to a crawl as he drove along the street next to the beach, still looking for something. When Jacob found whatever it was he was looking for, he smiled and looked ahead again. He pulled the rabbit into a vacant parking spot in a parking lot next to the beach. He kept the car on as he got out of the car and walked to the trunk. He opened the door and pulled out a tent and our bags. It dawned on me what it was that Jacob was planning. He wanted us to camp out on the beach. I assumed he'd asked daddy to help reserve a spot for us so we wouldn't get in trouble for it.

I crawled from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat and waited there until Jacob closed the trunk door. He walked towards the beach and placed the tent and things a few meters away from the shoreline. I took the keys out of the car and locked it before running onto the beach to Jacob. Jacob was too tired to talk anymore, so we were silent as we set up the tent and placed fluffy towels on the inside for our beds. The sand would no doubt be really comfortable to sleep on.

When we were finally done setting everything up, Jacob and I took out bags inside and tucked them off to the sides of the large tent so they wouldn't be in our way. Jacob plopped onto his blanket and his eyes were shut long before he hit the ground. I giggled and crawled over to him and rested my head on his chest. Jacob groaned from exhaustion and wrapped his arm around me and brought me up onto his chest. He kissed my forehead and I kissed his chin before he said anything.

"Do you like your surprise?" I nodded my head as I buried my face into his chest. I kissed his chest sweetly.

"Yes. It's wonderful. Thank you." Jacob smiled with his eyes still closed. I reached up and kissed him. He kissed me back tiredly.

"I hoped you would."

With that, Jacob's breathing became shallow and within moments, he was snoring lightly. I giggled to myself as I watched him. He needed the sleep badly. I let myself fall asleep on his chest and listened to his heartbeat in my ear. I started to gently hum a song thinking that Jacob might have a pleasant dream if I do. It took a while for me to fall asleep seeing as I'd already gotten sleep. But the sound of Jacob's heart and the sound of the waves were the best lullaby a girl could ever ask for.

When I woke up, I heard a lot of people in the distance and the sound of the waves and birds. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob's face, still sound asleep. I was still lying on his chest with his arm around me and he was snoring lightly and breathing evenly. I breathed him in and smiled. I stayed where I was and watched him sleep for several minutes, completely ignoring the noise from outside. Jacob didn't seem bothered by it either.

After a few minutes of just lying there watching him, I heard someone run around a few feet away from our tent yelling out to his friend in Spanish. Whoever it was ran away again. When his footsteps were far enough away, I rose up and of Jacob. He groaned when I moved and it made me giggle. I kept the laugh quiet, trying not to wake him.

Unlike Jacob, I was still wearing my pajamas, which were a little too heavy for the San Diego sun. I crawled quietly to the side of the tent that had my suitcase and opened it as quietly as I could manage. Instead of my usual toiletries, I had a bottle of mouth wash and face cleansing pads that didn't need water in my bag. There were plenty of swimsuits for me to choose from too.

I looked through my bag to find something that I felt like wearing that day. Alice had made sure to pack every color and design under the sun. I had a few short sleeve shirts, but most everything else were swimsuits, shorts, and flip flops.

After looking for a few minutes, I picked a two piece with an army print that was lined with light pink and had a small heart in the corner of the left cup. I took out pink flip flops and light wash jean shorts that I could wear wherever we went. My hair pieces weren't packed, but I assumed that might be for the best considering we'd be going in the water a lot.

I let my curls hang loose for the time being and put a hair band around my right wrist for later. I glanced at Jacob to make sure he was still sound asleep before I started changing. I knew I wouldn't mind if Jacob were to see me like that. I'd seen him change once or twice. To me it seemed only fair. But Jacob would never live it down if he did and I didn't know how daddy would react to that if he were to ever find out.

I started with my shirt and bra so I could put on the top. I tied the halter strings around my neck and looked at Jacob while tying the back strings. Jacob still stayed asleep. I adjusted the cups so they would fit right, then played with my two lockets to make sure they were sitting right.

Then I started taking off my pants, panties and socks, all the while looking at Jacob so I could be sure he wouldn't stir. I pulled on the bottoms and my jean shorts quickly after that and put on my flip flops when they were all on.

When I was done, I crawled back over to Jacob and laid down next to him, letting my hand trail up his chest. I felt Jacob's heart start beating a little faster and groaned again while turning on his side so he was facing me. When he was on his side and facing me, he opened his eyes and smiled at me. I smiled back at him. Jacob didn't say anything at first. He looked me over and noticed that I was changed into my suit and shorts already. Jacob smiled wider when he saw that and had a hint of humor to his voice when he spoke.

"Is that what you'll be wearing for most of our trip here?" I smirked and kissed his nose.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Jacob chuckled under his breath and kissed my nose and kissed my lips sweetly.

"Not at all. How'd you sleep last night?"

"Good. How about you? You looked exhausted." Jacob smirked and nodded.

"Pretty good. The sand was comfortable."

"I was on your chest all night, so I wouldn't know." Jacob started chuckling again and I giggled lightly with him.

"I guess you wouldn't in that case." I smiled and shook my head.

"Nope." Jacob smiled back at my response. He took a deep breath and raised his arms and went back onto his back as he stretched. When he was stretched, he stayed on his back a moment before looking at me again.

"So what should we do first?" I smiled and brought my hand back to his chest and lifted myself onto his chest so we were facing each other.

"How does breakfast sound?" Jacob smirked and kissed me sweetly.

"Sounds good."

"Did you pack any food?" Jacob shook his head.

"No. There're restaurants all along the boardwalk right next to the beach. And my car is parked close by, so we can put the tent and our things in the car for safe keeping until we come back."

"Won't they find it a bit odd that I'm not eating?" Jacob smirked.

"They'll react the same way people do at restaurants in Seattle when they see you not eating. They'll think it's weird or that you're on some crazy diet and go back about their day."

"You make it sound like its normal." Jacob shrugged.

"It's the United States, Nessie. As far as I know, we're one of the diet capitals of the world. And we're right next to a beach. People want to make sure they can fit in their two pieces, so dieting isn't exactly foreign to anyone.'" I giggled at him.

"That's mean, Jacob." Jacob shrugged.

"I don't apologize for my opinions." I rolled my eyes playfully. "That wasn't technically an opinion, though, that was a fact."

"You'd probably get mad at me if I told you you're reminding me of Aida right now." Jacob gave me a weird look.

"How so?"

"She doesn't care if people don't like what she says or thinks. At times, neither do you. You're nowhere near the extreme that she is, of course."

"I would hope not." I giggled. Jacob continued, still smiling. "That's not funny. The girl's indifferent to her detriment. I think the world could explode and leave her as the last surviving human left and she still wouldn't care." I shrugged.

"It wouldn't surprise me. She doesn't like people. They annoy her."

"Even you?" I giggled.

"I don't think so. If anything, she hates me for dragging her with me to places when I don't want to be alone with Madison ."

" Madison 's the gay one that's obsessed with you, right?" I giggled again and nodded.

"Yes."

"And Aida's the freaky Satanist?" I nodded.

"That's Aida." Jacob gave me a weird look, stared at the ceiling of the tent, and shuddered.

"How do you manage to find friends like that?" I shrugged.

"They find me, Jacob. They find me." Jacob rolled his eyes playfully.

"Sure they do, Nessie." I poked Jacob's chest teasingly.

"At least Aida and Madison have enough sense not to cut down a tree on someone's garage and hand my grandma a dead rabbit as a 'peace offering'."

"Damn it, Nessie, I was three. Give it a rest. And as far as the tree on the garage was concerned, it was Kiowa's neighbor's fault for being a douche."

"Not liking someone is no reason to attempt to crash a tree into their yard, especially when it back fires like your little stunt did." Jacob responded to that with the straightest face I'd ever seen.

"It was the wind's fault for blowing in the wrong direction." I stared at Jacob for a moment, neither of us saying anything. I was trying to decide whether or not Jacob was serious. Eventually, I started laughing at him. He laughed with me and I started moving with his chest as it vibrated.

"Yes, Jacob. It wasn't your fault for cutting the tree, it was the wind's fault for blowing it in the wrong direction." Jacob nodded and answered through his laugh.

"Damn straight." I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek.

"Do you want breakfast or not?" Jacob smiled and nodded.

"If you're going to be pushy about it, let's just go now."

"Fine." I said back in a snotty, but humored voice. Jacob laughed lightly with me as we walked out of the tent.

The sun was bright on the horizon and the beach goers were more or less ignoring us and our tent as they basked in sunlight that, for Jacob and myself, was a completely foreign thing. There were all kinds of people on the beach on the distance that I could see even from the sight of the camp spot.

Jacob and I cleaned up the site and stuffed the folded tent into the trunk and locked the car before walking onto the boardwalk looking for a restaurant that was either open for breakfast or close to being opened.

"So many fish restaurants," mumbled as they walked. "I can honestly say I've never had a tuna steak for lunch before."

"Fish is good for you. And besides, when you live so close to the shore, how can you not serve fish? It's one of the freshest meats available."

"I guess. I wonder if there's a food stand somewhere close by."

"I can't imagine there wouldn't be. What better place to have food stands than on the beach's boardwalk?"

It wasn't a food stand or anything, but Jacob was relieved when we finally found a restaurant that was open and serving breakfast. I was sad that we didn't get a seat that overlooked the beach. We ended up closer to the kitchen, but the smell of eggs, bacon, and even cured on bagels filled the air of the restaurant. I sat next to Jacob and as Jacob thought would be the case, no one questioned me not eating. There was a clock in the restaurant and I was surprised to see that it was eleven thirty. When Jacob was finished eating, we left the restaurant and walked around the boardwalk just talking.

We even held hands the whole time we were talking. We'd never done that before, even when we were in Port Angeles. This was usually something we did when we were in his apartment alone. It felt nice to hold hands and not worry about being bombarded by people that wanted answers that were really none of their business. No one knew us here and could just as easily assume we were the same age. They probably did.

Near the later part of the day, we went back to the beach and took out our towels. We decided not to take out the tent. I wanted to star gaze. At least as much as we could being in downtown San Diego. There was a large bonfire in the distance. It looked like it was the reception of a wedding. The bride and groom were dancing with their guests around the fire as the sun set and shared several kisses in the mean time. There were several people there that you could tell weren't part of the wedding party. I looked at Jacob and we smiled at each other.

"What do you say we crash the party?" Jacob asked in a humored, cocky voice. I simply nodded my head in agreement.

"I say let's do it." Jacob smiled and lifted himself up and stood. He took my hand and pulled me up onto my feet and we walked to the bonfire hand in hand.

The music was upbeat and exciting when we got there. No one said anything when we joined in the dance around the bonfire. We stopped dancing as everyone else when some members of the wedding party started making toasts and offering congratulations to the bride and groom. We applauded the marriage of the people we didn't know and danced again around the bonfire when they played the music again.

We were stopped abruptly when someone grabbed a hold of Jacob's shoulder to get his attention. Jacob was aggravated with the guy, but kept it to himself as he turned to look at the guy standing behind him in his swim trunks and messy hair that professed hours of being on the beach. The man smiled brightly when he saw Jacob face him.

"What?" Jacob kept his tone light as he spoke to the man. I stood there quietly hoping that we wouldn't be asked to leave or anything. But the man didn't look angry at all. He looked excited.

"I'm sorry but, has anyone ever told you, that you look exactly, like Steven Strait?" Jacob gave the man a weird stare for a moment before saying anything.

"What?"

"Steven Strait. The guy that played Caleb Danvers in the Covenant."

"I know who you're talking about and I just don't see it." The man looked surprised.

"Really?" Jacob shook his head.

"No, not at all." The man looked a little disappointed at first. Then he perked up a little when he looked at me.

"Do you think he looks like Steven Strait?" I giggled, looked at Jacob's face, then looked back at the guy and shook my head.

"Nope. I don't see it either." Jacob smirked and hugged me closer to him. Then the man shrugged and started laughing awkwardly under his breath. He scratched his head a little too. Jacob and I started dancing again and circled the fire in a non-beat oriented fashion.

Eventually, the bride and groom started cutting the cake. We politely waited for them to finish that and clapped for them when they did. Waiters walked around offering cake to the wedding party, being sure to ask if you were in fact part of the wedding. Jacob lied and said he was a friend of the groom. The waiter thought nothing of it and let Jacob have a piece of cake. I gave Jacob a playful criticizing look and smacked his arm.

"I can't believe you told that waiter you're friends with the groom." Jacob shrugged.

"So I wanted some cake. Nothing wrong with that." I breathed in since I was close to the cake and shuddered when I smelled it.

"Except that it has oranges and coconut in it." Jacob looked at me wide eyed a moment before smelling the cake. His nose scrunched when he smelled the cake. Jacob hated coconut and oranges weren't his favorite fruit in the world either. He much preferred watermelons and cantaloupes.

"Wow. How did I miss that?" I shrugged.

"A lot of people are wearing cologne right now. Combine that with the smell of sea salt and it's hard to smell anything else. Even I had to inhale to catch that."

"Where do you think I should put this?" I shrugged.

"Throw it in the fire I guess." Jacob chuckled and literally tossed the plate and cake into the bonfire. I gave Jacob a look. "I didn't mean that literally." Jacob gave me a cocky smile and smirked at me.

"You should be clearer about what you mean next time, then." I giggled and smacked Jacob a few times when he wrapped his arms around me to contain me. We were laughing together as the music kept playing and the wedding party enjoyed themselves.

Jacob took hold of my wrists in both his hands and lifted them up so they were around his neck. I held onto Jacob as he lifted me up with him and held me close. I let my feet dangle above the ground as I looked at Jacob. His eyes were sweet and warm and he was smiling at me with his sincere, loving smile that always made my heart melt. Jacob gave me a sweet kiss before looking at me again.

"Stay here a minute." He put me down on my feet, kissed me again, then left me standing next to the bonfire at the near end of a song. He walked over to the DJ and started talking to him about something.

While I was waiting for Jacob to come back, I noticed a few people were staring at me. I started walking slowly around the bonfire to avoid those eyes. When I had reached three feet around the bonfire, I saw Jacob finish up his conversation with the DJ and make his way back to me. I stood still then, waiting for him to come back. Jacob has a silly grin on his face as he walked back to me. When he was in front of me again, he took both my hands again and wrapped my arms around his neck. I gladly did so and let him pull me up with him when he stood up straight. When I was there, a slow song started playing that sounded familiar. Jacob's grin widened.

"Do you remember this song?" Jacob looked at me with hopeful eyes. I listened to the song and thought briefly about where I might have heard it that would have real significance to us. After a minute of thinking, I remembered where this song was from. I smiled lovingly at Jacob.

"It's the song we danced to the night you told me you loved me." Jacob grinned impossibly wider and nodded his head.

"Yeah. I asked the DJ to play it for us. I had to tell him I was the groom's brother, but that's okay." I glanced at the groom. He was a tall black man and I couldn't fight a laugh.

"And he believed you?" Jacob shrugged.

"I told him I was adopted. He didn't argue after that." I rolled my eyes playfully at Jacob.

"I'm sure." Jacob kissed me so I wouldn't say anything else. I didn't fight him, but the kiss was short and sweet. When he took his lips away, he looked at me with pleading, loving eyes.

"Would you dance with me, Nessie?" I smiled at him and kissed him quickly.

"Have I ever said no?" Jacob smiled and let me down onto my feet. When I was on my feet, we started swaying to the beat of the music with the other people around the bonfire.

The bride and groom were dancing sweetly and so were several members of the wedding party. But it still felt like it was just me and Jacob dancing together around that bonfire. Jacob then lifted me up slightly, holding my hands, and rested my feet on top of his. I started moving with him effortlessly. Jacob wasn't much a fan of dancing I knew, so it was sweet to see him dancing with me and putting such an effort into it.

Near the end of the song, Jacob bent his head down and gave me a kiss. When our lips met, I brought my arms around his neck again and let him pull me up to his level as he straightened out. Jacob licked my bottom lip and I opened for him to let him in. I couldn't even hear the music anymore. I don't think he could either. We were engrossed in one another as we kissed.

Our tongues both wondered around tasting and searching everything. My hands trailed into Jacob's hair and his hands ran up and down my back gently, resting his hands on my butt for only a moment before trailing up my back again. We heard cheering in the background after being locked for several minutes in a passionate kiss. We looked around and saw that the bride and groom were sharing a kiss that was near as passionate as ours. Jacob and I looked away from them and back into each other's eyes. Jacob gave me a shy, loving grin.

"Let's go back to the site." I smiled and nodded my head in agreement.

"Yeah. Let's." Jacob grinned wider and put me back down on my feet. He took a hold of my hand and pulled me with him in the direction of the campsite on the beach.

When we were far enough away from the party, we started walking on the beach holding hands. Jacob and I were both silent for the rest of that walk. We looked at the moon that was present in the sky. The city lights made the stars harder to see. Only the large stars were visible above. Halfway back to the camp, I let go of Jacob's hand and ignored his confused look as I walked behind him and climbed onto his back and clutched onto him with my arms and legs wrapped around him. Jacob chuckled and took hold of my legs as we walked back to the campsite together. When we reached the towels we'd laid out earlier, Jacob took a hold of my arm and swung me around to his front and gently laid us on top of one of the towels all the while staring into my eyes.

"Did you enjoy the wedding?" Jacob smiled sweetly and nodded my head.

"Yes. It was lovely. We should crash weddings more often." Jacob smiled and kissed my nose.

"I'll see to that."

"You do that." Jacob smiled wider and brought his lips to mine.

Our mouths immediately opened for each other and made the kiss instantly passionate. The sound of the waves and the sound of Jacob's heartbeat combined with his delicious woodsy musky smell was making me really dizzy. I felt my head spin and my neck felt like jell-o. Jacob's hands traveled all along my body, touching everything there was for him to touch and love. I did the same to him and earned a groan every now and then as he earned several sighs and moans from me.

My head kept spinning round and I realized I was very tired. I hadn't noticed how tired I was until that moment. He kept kissing me and feeling around my mouth with his tongue. Eventually, he felt like he'd been as thorough as he possibly could be and moved his mouth from mine to my ear. He took my ear and sucked on the lobe greedily. That action made me even dizzier and made me moan. Then his mouth started traveling down my neck, giving me sweet kisses. When he got to the spot between my neck and shoulder, he took the skin into his mouth and sucked. I moaned again and let him do it. Several minutes passed before he kissed that spot sweetly, then brought his face close to mine. He had a funny grin on his face.

"You better hope daddy never sees that." I said, throwing his words right back at him. Jacob smirked and kissed me again sweetly one last time.

"Wear a sweater for a while. He'll never know." Jacob and I laughed together and he moved off me and laid right next to me under the stars. Jacob took me close to him after a moment and rested my head on his chest. "I love you." I breathed in his scent with a smile.

"I love you too, Jacob." Jacob and I didn't speak again after that. We remained silent and finally let ourselves fall asleep.

As promised, Jacob and I only stayed in California for a week. The seventh day was spent driving back home. After the night at the bonfire, Jacob took me around San Diego and let me splurge a little on some shoes and a few new clothes. I was sure to get a few souvenirs for everyone at home. We found an exclusive store near the middle of the city that was covered with Lady Gaga propaganda. It was a swimsuit store where all the suits were inspired by her skimpy outfits from all her music videos. They even sold water friendly versions of her gloves. I caved and bought the grey ones she'd worn in her Poker Face music video. I thought they looked nice on me. I was sure I'd be able to find something to where with them. And these ones were real leather.

The next day, Jacob convinced me to wake up early and go deep sea fishing with him that morning. It was a lot more enjoyable having Jacob to talk to, but I simply couldn't get into fishing. I understood why men liked doing it though. It was really relaxing and seemed to provide an escape from the real world more or less. But it just wasn't something I could get into. I was able to make dinner from the huge swordfish he caught. Jacob discovered a new found love for swordfish that day.

The day after that, Jacob and I stayed on the beach and played in the water and made sand castles together like we did when I was little. We made it as big as we could and a bunch of other kids on the beach gathered around and helped. Jacob handled all the towers and was able to make it reach five feet in the air. The kids that helped and Jacob and I were really proud of the final result. That sand castle was still there when we left.

I slept most of the drive back home. It was hard to stay awake during a day long drive. When we got home, Jacob gently nudged me out of my sleep and helped me bring my stuff back to the cottage. No one was home when we got back. I assumed they were all out hunting.

Jacob and I stayed at the house and watched a bunch of Emmett's old Frankenstein movies and a few original Dracula movies. I popped some popcorn for Jacob to eat for dinner during the movie. He said that he would be going back on patrol tomorrow night and that Seth had earned himself a free week off.

"My god, the thirties were bad." I giggled.

"They didn't have a lot of money in the thirties. They had to be frugal wherever they could be."

"That's no excuse for bad acting." I smiled and patted Jacob's chest.

"That I'm afraid I can't give you an answer for." Jacob smiled and kissed my head.

"No worries. Like I said, there's no excuse for bad acting." Around one in the morning, when momma, daddy and the others still weren't home, I became really tired and asked Jacob to take me home so I could go to bed.

I handled my usual nightly routine and changed into the pajamas that had been stuffed in my suitcase unused for a week and was glad to feel snuggled instead of hot again. I walked out of the bathroom and to my room where Jacob was lying on my bed above the covers waiting for me. I smiled and let myself in under the covers. Jacob stayed above the covers, but held onto me anyway. His natural body heat was better than any blanket.

"Goodnight Renesmee. I love you." I breathed in his scent again and snuggled my face into his chest and kissed his chest sweetly.

"Goodnight, Jacob. I love you too." I closed my eyes after that. It took no time for me to fall asleep in Jacob's arms. When I was asleep, my dreams were, as always, a sweet play of images of Jacob.


	6. Walgreens

**Walgreens**

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Every couple gets on each other's nerves. Even the most desperately in love. This is a cute little short that I decided to write about one of Nessie and Jacob's lesser moments. I hope you like their little tiff over something silly.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**JPOV**

It was the middle of the night. It was oddly dry today and yesterday. The sun had uncharacteristically been out all week and made the weather humid and uncomfortable. Nessie had woken up feeling really sick. I was worried until I noticed that there was some blood on my bed. What grossed me out was that I knew what kind of blood that was and the fact that some of it was on my leg. Nessie apologized a million times and threw all my sheets in the washing machine that was stuffed in my closet and started that in the wash while I washed the blood off me.

"Jacob!!" I heard Nessie yell from the bathroom. I walked up to the closed door and rested my head on the wall.

"Yeah, Nessie?"

"I need you to go out to Walgreens or something. I can't find any tampons." I froze and shuddered when I heard her say those words. I loved the girl to death and would do anything for her, but I hated dealing with this. It was one of those rare moments when I wished she was a little girl again.

"Are you sure? Can't you just use pads or something?"

"Jacob, I hate using pads. They make me feel sticky and gross." I felt a gag reflex at that.

"Nessie, it's the middle of the night. They won't be open."

"Yes they will. It's Walgreens. They're open twenty four hours a day and one in the morning is part of that twenty four hours."

"Yeah, but.."

"Jacob, seriously. Either you drive to a Walgreens in Port Angeles or I'll drive myself."

I was about to say something, but she opened the bathroom door and gave me a look of death that made even me tremble in fear. I nodded my head and walked down the hallway and heard the bathroom door shut. I grabbed my keys and walked outside to my car and drove to Port Angeles as fast as I could. I was driving at least thirty over the speed limit, making me go ninety and still speeding up.

In a matter of ten minutes, I was halfway to Port Angeles. I started lead footing the pedal trying to go all the faster. I figured no one would be out on the road since it was the middle of the night. I only stared forward on the road and had on my high beams. I saw a car in the distance and I let up off the gas so that I'd slow down. But when I passed them it was too late and I was still going one hundred. As I feared, it was a cop car and as soon as I passed them, their sirens went off and they followed me. I slowed down and pulled over on the side of the road. The cop pulled over behind me and took his time getting to me. I pulled out my wallet to get all my information ready. When the cop finally came to my car, he tapped on my window and I rolled it down.

"Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" I hated that question. It made me feel like he was addressing me as if I were six or something. I remained calm.

"Yes sir. I do."

"Mind explaining to me why you were driving so damn fast?" I took a deep breath. I wondered if maybe the truth would get me out of trouble or maybe lesson the cost of my ticket at the very least.

"My girlfriend needed me to go out and buy her tampons. She's having mood swings like a bull and if I don't come home with tampons and fast, I'm sleeping outside." I was exaggerating a bit about the making me sleep outside part, but everything else was true. To my surprise, the cop looked at me with what I could swear was pity.

"I see." I played with it.

"Yeah. She's a sweet girl, but at that time of the month, she might as well be Medusa." The cop laughed lightly.

"I know what you mean. My wife hit menopause a few years ago. You'd think it be better now that she doesn't get her period anymore, but it doesn't." I laughed with him.

"At least I've got time." He chuckled again and stopped writing. He looked at me, shook his head, and sighed.

"I'm going to let you off with a warning this time. Don't go leaving your house empty of tampons anymore, you hear me son?" I nodded my head.

"Yes sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He nodded his head and walked back to his car and got in. I started up my car again and drove away much slower and sped up when I was a good few meters away, I sped up again.

I was relieved when I finally reached Port Angeles. I drove around looking for a Walgreens that I knew was around somewhere. I finally found it after driving around for ten minutes. There were a lot more stop lights in the middle of the night than I would think was necessary. When I found the Walgreens, though, they were closed. The sign on the door said that they were having problems with their electricity and they were closed until further notice.

I felt my blood start to boil. I calmed myself down and drove around a little more until I found a Wal-Mart that was open. I was surprised they were still open, but I didn't plan on looking a gift horse in the mouth. I ran in and walked around trying to find the right aisle. It took forever for me to find it. Partly because I refused to ask any of the two people working there where the aisle was. The last thing I wanted to deal with were people that thought I was a pervert or something.

I was relieved when I finally found the aisle, but that relief was gone the moment I saw how many different types were in that aisle. There were the pads Nessie didn't want and there were at least twenty different types of tampons. I walked slowly through the aisle trying to find something that looked familiar. But they all looked the same to me. Some had expanding wings, some had braided strings, and some were scented. I didn't see the point of that at all. I ended up standing in the aisle for ten minutes just staring at all the boxes like an idiot. I took out my phone and called my house, hoping desperately that Nessie hadn't gone to sleep.

"_Jacob?"_

"Yeah, it's me. You've got to help me." When she spoke, she sounded aggravated.

"_Jacob, it's tampons, not a life insurance plan. Just grab a box and come home."_ I took in a deep breath to keep myself calm. The sleep deprivation and situation overall was making me angry.

"Nessie, you don't understand. One of them has wings, one has a braid, one smells like lavender, one of them plays _I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar_."

"_Jacob, none of them play songs. And don't make this harder than it is. I don't care. Just grab something. I don't care if it has dragons tattooed on it, just bring me something that will absorb blood."_

"Nessie, please don't do this to me."

"_I'm not doing anything to you. I'm asking you to buy tampons, not perform open heart surgery. Just pick a box, pay for it, and come home."_ Nessie hung up the phone after that and I was left holding my phone to my ear staring at all the boxes.

I sighed and shut my phone and stuffed it in my back pocket. I stared at the boxes a little longer and, finally, I chose the ones that supposedly didn't leak. I walked to the pay lane closest to me and threw the box onto the table next to the cash register. The person at the register was a women and she gave me a funny look.

"Is it that time of the month?" I didn't even look at her as I took out my wallet.

"No. I collect them. I'm trying to buy enough to fill my house." The women lost her slight smile and gave me a snide look. I didn't bother apologizing for my sarcasm.

Once I'd paid for them, I walked out of the store as fast as I could and got to my car. I drove home at the speed limit this time. I didn't know if the cop was still there and if he was, I wasn't sure if he'd let me off with a warning again. I did speed up a little when I was getting closer to the apartment. I screeched into the parking lot and turned off got out and locked my car all in the same few seconds. I ran to the building and let myself in, running up to my apartment. I unlocked my door and let myself in. Nessie was sitting on the couch watching a late night movie and she turned to face me and smiled at me.

"Hey Jacob."

"I got your tampons. Are you feeling better?" She nodded her head more enthusiastically than I thought she would.

"Yeah, much better. I took some of those pills Carlisle prescribed me. And I found some tampons in the linen closet." I felt myself freeze.

"You what?"

"I found tampons in the linen closet. I can't believe I forgot they were there." I stared at Nessie blankly and dropped the bag on the floor.

"You mean I woke up in the middle of the night, got pulled over for speeding, had to search all over Port Angeles for an open convenience store, and be rude to a clerk just for you to end up finding some in the linen closet?" Nessie smiled and shrugged.

"I'm sorry about that, Jacob. At least now we won't have to worry about buying more for another two months." I was taking in calming breaths. Nessie noticed. "You're not mad at me are you?" I shook my head.

"No, not at all." I think she could tell I was lying. But she also probably knew that I wouldn't be mad for long. Nessie got up from the couch and she walked over to me and hugged me.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." I sighed and hugged her back.

"I forgive you. Just promise me that next time, you'll check everywhere before you send me out to get more, okay." She nuzzled her face into my chest.

"Okay. I promise." I really hated Nessie's monthly mood swings, but I was able to learn how to stay on her good side for the most part. "I love you. Even when I'm having mood swings." I chuckled under my breath.

"I love you too, Nessie. Even when you're having mood swings." She giggled and kissed my chest through my t-shirt. I held onto her tighter and picked her up. "Let's get back to bed, okay. I'm tired."

"Me too. Menstruation takes a lot of energy." I bit my bottom lip and chose not to respond. Nessie didn't have her usual sense of humor right now and I thought it wiser not to push my luck.

We were already in our pajamas, so we just got into bed and pulled over the covers. Nessie snuggled close to me and kissed my neck. I kissed her head, then we shared a loving kiss. After that kiss, I turned off the light and we laid down in bed in each other's arms waiting to fall asleep. Nessie fell asleep before me and she was smiling when she started to dream. I finally fell asleep after minutes of breathing in her sweet scent. I had pleasant dreams despite tonight's events. I simply hoped that I would never have to do that again.


	7. With All I Am

**With All I Am**

Jacob was driving me home from school. School had started a few weeks ago. I missed summer, but it was nice to have routine again. My grades from last year had earned me AP classes this year. That also meant that most of my classmates were juniors. My Spanish class was all seniors and I got the feeling none of the girls in my class liked me. The guys were fine with me. They talked to me all the time. The only classes I had with Aida, Madison and the others were my study hall, lunch, and gym.

"So how've AP classes been treating you so far?"

"Still not my favorite. A lot of the kids in my classes don't even deserve to be there. They cheated their way into AP classes." Jacob shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. They're the ones that never get caught. And yet kids in lower classes don't have a prayer of getting away with cheating."

"That's because the AP kids are better at cheating. That's about the only thing they're better at than regular students."

"Oh come on, Nessie, not all of them cheat. You don't cheat."

"No. I earned my spot." Jacob chuckled.

"That's not fair, Nessie. Not everyone has a father that speaks Spanish, French, and German fluently."

"Not everyone's daddy is a vampire either with all the time in the world." Jacob chuckled again.

"True." Jacob and I laughed lightly as he drove. Shortly after, we got home where everyone was sitting around doing their own thing. I noticed daddy looked a little aggravated about something. I went to where momma and daddy were, playing chess in the kitchen. Jacob followed after me.

"Hi, daddy." Daddy looked at me and smiled. I looked at momma. "Hi, momma."

"Hi honey." They both said. I took a seat at the table and watched them play a moment. Jacob took a seat between me and momma. I thought my question to daddy, and he sighed.

"I'm fine, Nessie. We just have a visitor." Momma gave daddy a weird look. She lifted her shield and daddy gave momma a stubborn look at whatever she was thinking.

"The Denalis?" Daddy shook his head.

"I wish." I looked at daddy confused, then I looked at momma. Momma gave daddy an encouraging look. "Marcelo came to visit." My eyes widened slightly and I heard Jacob start growling.

"He did?" Daddy nodded.

"Yeah. He's out hunting right now. He left two hours ago, so he'll probably be back soon." Daddy said that last part in a harsh tone.

"Why did you let him into the house?" I looked around at Jacob and gave him a lecturing look. Daddy sighed.

"Blame Bella. She made me let him in." Jacob looked at momma accusingly.

"Thanks a lot Bella." Momma rolled her eyes.

"Look, Edward, I know Marcelo isn't your favorite person in the world, but he's a nice kid once you give him a chance." Daddy looked at momma like she was insane. I sighed.

"I'm sure Hitler was a nice guy once you got to know him. But does that mean one should give him a chance?" Momma rolled her eyes.

"For god's sake Edward, Hitler was a genocidal dictator. Marcelo's just a cocky kid with a big mouth. That's hardly something to compare to Hitler."

"Daddy, he's really not that bad."

"Nessie, the man rapes you with his mind every chance he gets." Jacob growled again.

"He what?" I looked at Jacob.

"Jacob, cool it. It's just Marcelo. He and I are just friends. We've always been just friends and we will remain just friends. He's just arrogant is all. Once you're used to it, he's really not that bad."

"Nessie, you know how I feel about him." I nodded.

"Yes, I do know. And I keep reminding you that you have nothing to worry about." I didn't really want to talk about this anymore, so I walked out of the kitchen and made my way to the porch where I figured Marcelo would go once he got back. Jacob followed after me and came outside with me on the porch.

"I know you keep saying that, but Romeo doesn't see it that way." Jacob said the figurative name in a hostile tone. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Jacob, he knows that I'm not interested. I've explained my feelings to him and he understands that. Why don't you believe me on that?"

"I do believe you Nessie. What I don't believe is that he's taking no for an answer."

"He's not as much of a womanizer as you think."

"Oh, he's not?" I put my hands on my hips and looked at Jacob critically.

"Jacob, you're making a bigger deal out of this than what's needed." Jacob crossed his arms and started to look defensive.

"Am I?" I nodded.

"Yes, you are."

"I don't think so."

"Well, I do think so." Jacob scrunched his nose and growled under his breath. I suddenly smelled the sweet cheesecake and cheery scent too. When I paid attention, I heard the light footsteps.

"My, my. Arguing are we?" Marcelo said arrogantly at Jacob. Jacob turned around and looked at Marcelo with a sneer. Marcelo only chuckled lightly.

"Do you have a reason for coming?" Jacob said not too kindly. Marcelo didn't even twitch at the hostility in Jacob's voice. Marcelo answered in his honey accented voice.

"Is it wrong to decide I miss a friend and come to visit?"

"Normal people call when they just miss someone." I smacked Jacob's arm. He didn't flinch or turn around to face me.

"Are you saying that you simply call Nessie when you miss her? How impersonal of you." Jacob growled again and he started shaking. I grabbed Jacob's arm and looked at Marcelo.

"Okay, you're done." I looked at Jacob and pushed my thoughts into his head. _Jacob, the more you react, the more entertained he is. If you really want him to leave you alone, don't give him the satisfaction. That's all it takes._

Jacob did turn to face me with that. He looked at me with angry, pleading eyes and I looked at him pleadingly too. Jacob looked at me a moment, then took a deep breath that he kept silent, then looked back at Marcelo with no less of a hostile look than earlier.

"Don't enjoy your stay too much." I smacked Jacob's arm again before he walked past Marcelo and back into the house. I sighed and Marcelo walked closer to me while looking towards Jacob. When he was a foot away from me, he looked at me.

"And the lap dog snaps for his master."

"Shut up. You didn't help. You intentionally provoked him." He shrugged without an ounce of remorse.

"He's a big boy, Renesmee. He's perfectly capable of reacting like one."

"And you're perfectly capable of not being such an ass." He smirked.

"But acting like an ass always puts a smile on my sweet flower's face." I held back a smile. "See."

"I'm not smiling."

"Yes you are. And it's absolutely adorable." I kept fighting the smile and walked past him and into the yard. He followed after me.

"So is there a reason in particular that you came here or were you really just looking for a visit?" I saw him smile when I turned to look at him.

"A little of both, actually."

"What do you mean?" He kept smiling, but the smile faltered slightly.

"My great aunt Huilen has a good friend that lives in Spain. She came to Brazil and told us something interesting. I'm surprised Edward didn't tell you when he saw you."

"What'd her friend say?"

"It has to do with Stefan and Vladimir." I stiffened a little.

"What did they do?"

"They've taken it upon themselves to rebuild their castle. And where their castle used to be is now modern day suburbia."

"You mean they're going to try and rebuild it in that area?" He shook his head.

"No. Thankfully. So far, they're in Dracula's Castle."

"Which now gives tours and has a food court across the street and a gift shop." Marcelo gave me a surprised glance.

"You've been to Transylvania?" I shook my head.

"No. Esme and Carlisle went for a vacation together five years ago. They took pictures and they let me look at them a few times."

"Ah."

"So are they at least leaving the tourists alone?"

"For now, yes. But Huilen's friend doesn't think that'll last very long. They've waited five thousand years to be rid of the Voulturi. Now that they are, they don't have to follow their rules anymore. And it's only a matter of time before every vampire in the world actually believes that the Voulturi are gone."

"Let's hope they don't." Marcelo shook his head.

"Trust me. One vampire will have the balls to test the theory, and when nothing happens to him, every vampire around the world will gain the balls to do the same."

"And like I said, let's hope that doesn't happen." Marcelo smirked.

"I suppose. I say you guys kill them before they cause a problem." I looked at Marcelo with shocked eyes.

"And why does my family have to do it?"

"You're the ones that started all this."

"No we're not! Vladimir and Stefan killed Aro and Caius. They ended the Voulturi rein, not us." Marcelo chuckled.

"Yes, but it was your family that helped make it happen. And who else would be able to stop them but your family?"

"They won't do anything anyway."

"You don't think they'll do anything?" I shook my head.

"I think those two have more sense than that."

"Well you'd be wrong." He walked further in front of me and turned around again to face me. "Other than that statement of bad news, I did come simply to say hi. Is that so wrong?" I sighed and shook my head.

"No. I just don't understand why you have to be so mean to Jacob whenever you visit."

"It's not like he's ever nice to me."

"That doesn't mean you should be malicious."

"How am I being malicious?"

"You're insulting him and calling him names when all he does is make his dislike for you known." I knew that was stupid long before I'd said the whole sentence. But I couldn't think of anything else to say. They were both at fault truthfully.

"Don't I do the same?"

"Yes, but you're more of an ass about it." Marcelo chuckled.

"It's just the way I am, what can I say?"

"How does one with such a sweetheart of a mother end up a douche like you?" Marcelo chuckled again and walked closer so his face was close to mine.

"I take after my father." I stared at him a moment before I finally started laughing at him. Marcelo started laughing too. When we were done, he changed the topic. "So are you and the mutt an item now, or do I still have a chance?" I glared playfully at Marcelo.

"I told you, Marcelo, you don't have a chance. And yes, Jacob and I are an item now as you put it." Marcelo gave me a fake, over exaggerated pout.

"That's too bad. You break my heart Renesmee."

"Don't I always?" He smiled.

"Indeed you do." I giggled and we looked at each other for a moment. "What do you say you and I play a game of gin together?"

"Sounds like fun. But remember, an awkward silence doesn't mean we kiss." He chuckled.

"I don't think so. What better way to end an awkward silence than a kiss." Marcelo gave me a small kiss when he said that. He made it fast and I stepped back a few inches when he did that.

"You could keep in mind that I'm happily taken and that kissing me was grossly inappropriate. And, frankly, if you kiss me again, Jacob will have your ass handed to you on a platter. And I'm sorry, but I doubt I'll stop him" He smirked.

"I'll risk it. I think I can take him." I smiled.

"My god you're an ass." He chuckled and walked past me towards the house. I followed after him and we ended up playing gin for the rest of the afternoon.

Marcelo ended up staying for a few days. The whole time, daddy and Jacob looked pretty sour. Jacob never left my side and daddy was always no further than a room away. I didn't get even a moments peace the whole time he was there. And every time Marcelo had an inappropriate thought about me, daddy would clear his throat at him. Eventually, it got to the point where I think Marcelo was having dirty thoughts about me just to aggravate daddy. It took everything in daddy not to throw anything at him. Jacob just glared at Marcelo and would get all the angrier at him when daddy would tell him what he was thinking later in the day.

Jacob and I were driving to his apartment a few days later. Daddy had 'politely' insisted that Marcelo sleep outside. Daddy was unusually happy to get me out of the house when Jacob offered. I was about to say that I should stay home since we have company, but daddy practically shoved me out the door. Everyone else continued with what they'd been doing and thought best not to mess with daddy for the time being, no matter how irrational he was starting to get.

"I really hate him." I sighed.

"I know, Jacob. But he's my friend. As much as a douche he is, he's my friend."

"Why do you always have to befriend the weird people? Why can't you befriend someone normal and stable for once?"

"My friends aren't unstable."

"Nessie, your best friend worships the devil, your other friend has an undying lesbian crush on you, and Marcelo wants you in bed."

"Madison doesn't have a lesbian crush on me. She's just overly friendly." I hated it when I was out of things to say. That usually led to me desperately grasping at any defense I could pull out of my ass.

"A huh. That's why she gave you a bouquet of flowers for valentine's day. That makes a lot of sense Nessie." I rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, you're being really unreasonable, you know that?" Jacob started getting defensive.

"How am I being unreasonable? Is it so wrong for me to not like the guy that's been going out of his way to win you over?"

"He's just teasing. That's what he does."

"Nessie, no man would flirt with a girl like that without hoping for something in return. And you've seen the way Edward reacts to his thoughts. Edward was about to strangle him for one of those thoughts. You want to guess what that thought was?" I held up my hand.

"No, Jacob, I don't want to know. He was only thinking that stuff because of the way you guys were reacting. You make it too easy for him. And frankly, daddy of all people, should know better than that."

"He would know better than that, Nessie, if that were actually the case. You know well enough that Edward would never react that way unless the thoughts were really bad."

"Daddy wasn't reacting that badly."

"Nessie, Bella had to grab onto his arm before he stabbed Marcelo in the neck."

"He never ran towards Marcelo, he only held onto the knife and was simply tempted."

"Yeah, that's why Bella was clutching onto Edward's hand." Jacob responded sarcastically. I was really getting aggravated. I decided to go with my one last defense.

"Jacob, you imprinted on me, right?" Jacob looked at me confused after turning off his car and opening the car door.

"What?"

"Did you, or did you not, imprint on me?" Jacob stared at me dumbfounded a moment before finally answering.

"Yes, I have. You know that."

"And you know that obviously." Jacob looked awkwardly, nodded nervously, and finally answered.

"Yes."

"If you know all this, then why are you so scared of Marcelo?" Jacob became wide eyed and even more defensive.

"What makes you think I'm scared of Marcelo?!" I sighed.

"Jacob, I'm not stupid. You think that if he keeps up his advances that it might win me over. Well it won't!" I was getting angrier by the minute. So was he.

"And how do I know that?! It happens all the time. Guy likes girl, girl rejects guy cause she loves someone else, guy charms the woman relentlessly until she's so damn confused that she goes for the guy despite the perfectly good guy she was already with. He's not stupid, Nessie." My voice when I responded was cold as ice. I'd had enough.

"Works every time?"

"Nine times out of ten."

"Did it work when you tried it on mom?" I immediately hated myself for what I'd said, especially when I saw the look on Jacob's face. My face remained blank while his changed from anger to a pained anger, like he was being tortured.

Jacob didn't respond. Instead, he got out of the car and closed the door. I managed to get out and close the car door just before Jacob locked the car. I followed after Jacob as he walked to his apartment building. He opened the door and let himself in, but he closed the door before I could get in. I stared at the door a minute in disbelief before I started knocking on the door. When knocking didn't do anything, I started banging on the door. It was only six in the afternoon, so there wasn't anyone there to yell at me about banging on the door. I was getting drenched in the rain as I kept banging on the door. Then I started ringing the buzzer to Jacob's apartment repeatedly hoping to finally get a response of any kind.

I was a hair away from using all my strength to slam down the door. I started yelling Jacob's name demanding that he let me in. Jacob opened the door, threw something at me, and closed the door as soon as whatever it was, was in my hand. It was the keys to his other rabbit. I stared up at the door again in disbelief. He was sending me back home. Now I really was furious. I was about to slam on the door again and force it open, but I thought better of it. Forcing my way in would only make things worse, and not to mention draw unwanted attention.

Instead, I did as Jacob asked. I went to find his other rabbit in the parking lot and let myself in when I finally found it. I sped my way out of the parking lot and onto the road in bubbling fury. The rain was coming down hard, so it was a little harder to see the road, but I managed. I was almost tempted to drive the car off the road and pretend it happened because I couldn't see where I was going. But once again, I thought better of it.

When I was home, I parked the rabbit in the parking spot in the garage that was free. I turned off and locked the car in a mad rush and threw the keys in the general direction of the table that held all the car keys. I heard something smash, but I didn't bother seeing what it was that I'd just damaged. I'd let someone yell at me about it later. I was thinking about what had happened the whole walk back to the cottage and didn't hear anyone following me. I was glad for that. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

I was relieved when I'd finally reached the cottage. The first thing I did was take a hot bath in the hopes of calming my nerves. I surrounded myself with the smell of lavender and vanilla in the hopes that it would calm me enough that I'd be able to face everyone some time soon. They would undoubtedly have something to say about whatever it was that I'd broken in the garage.

It took a good hour of soaking before I finally relaxed a little. When I was relaxed, I tried to let myself get sleepy so that I could go straight to bed when I was done with my bath. When I was done, I climbed out of the tub and took my towel to dry myself up. I didn't have my pajamas with me and I wasn't in the mood to look through my room for something. I walked out of the bathroom and there was still no one in the cottage but me. I went to my room, threw my towel in the general direction of the chair at my vanity and slept in the nude.

I woke up the next morning to someone nudging me. I didn't wake up at first. Whoever was nudging me wouldn't stop. It wasn't hard. It was gentle. And it wasn't as cold or as much like stone as daddy or momma's skin. I finally let my eyes open and I saw Marcelo at my bedside with a smirk on his face.

"You know, Nessie, not many people can pull off going commando for bedtime these days." I didn't smile.

"I'm really not in the mood, Marcelo."

"I figured. I heard what happened. I'm flattered that you would defend me."

"I wasn't defending you. I was trying to get Jacob to trust my judgment."

"And wasn't your judgment that I was an overall good friend?" He said this with a cocky smile on his face.

"My judgment was that I'm a big girl that can make her own decisions. I was trying to get Jacob to see that." He shrugged.

"Indeed. And I think your point hit a little below the belt." I rose to a sitting position holding my covers up .over my chest.

"And what would you know about that?" He sighed.

"Nessie, Edward told me what happened."

"My daddy?" He chuckled.

"He blamed me for it. But he's equally as mad at you. He acknowledges that what you said was uncalled for. Not to mention you broke the window of Alice's Porsche. My god, you should have seen the look on her face. You're in big trouble when Alice gets a hold of you."

"I won't argue with that, but you're not really in a position to lecture me." Marcelo shrugged.

"I didn't come in to lecture you. I came in to tell you that your parents called you out of school today." I gave Marcelo a surprised look.

"Why?"

"Because Bella knew you were going to be in a sour mood and she didn't think it would be right to inflict your bad mood on others."

"Very funny. What's the real reason?" Marcelo shrugged.

"Bella knew you would be upset. She figured you could use a day to think." I mentally reminded myself to thank momma when I saw her next. I nodded.

"She'd be right about that." I paused a moment. "What time is it anyway?" Marcelo smirked.

"Noon." My eyes widened.

"Noon?" He nodded.

"Yep. You fell asleep at seven at night and didn't wake up until noon the next day. That's twelve hours worth of sleep young lady."

"I'm no young lady." He chuckled.

"You're only three going on four. That's pretty young, Renesmee."

"And you're what, thirteen?"

"That's older than four." Marcelo took one of my hands in both his. "What do you say I take you out hunting to help get your mind off this whole Jacob thing?" I gave him a small glare.

"No thanks Marcelo. I'm not in a sociable mood right now. That's why I didn't go to school today."

"I know you have a habit of doing this, Renesmee, but don't be cruel to me. Let me treat you to a day of taking out your anger on passing by hikers." I glared more.

"I don't hunt humans, Marcelo."

"There's a first for everything in every circumstance." I smacked his hand after forcing mine away.

"No there isn't. Nothing could make me mad enough to kill a human."

"Animals then."

"You're being a bit too eager, Marcelo." He rolled his eyes.

"Is it so wrong to want to help a friend?"

"Not when that person genuinely thinks of you as a friend. You just want to take a shot at me because Jacob is mad at me." Marcelo's face became uncharacteristically angry. He stood up and looked at me.

"Renesmee, I know I flirt. That's just the way I am. I treat every woman I know like that. I know you're upset, as you have every reason to be. But I'm not one to tolerate being yelled at for something that isn't my fault."

"Not your fault? You're the one that hits on me in front of Jacob every chance you get."

"That's just the way I am, Renesmee. I'll lay off if that's what you want, but it's not my fault he's the jealous type." I looked at him a moment before responding.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to you right now." Marcelo sighed and walked away. He opened my bedroom door to walk out, but looked at me before leaving.

"Feel better Renesmee. I hope everything works out right."

After that, he shut the door and left the cottage. I slumped back in bed and stared at the wall for however long. I wasn't paying any attention to the clock. Looking at it was making me feel strange. After lying in bed doing nothing for a few minutes, I reached for my phone and checked my messages. I was hoping that maybe Jacob called. But instead, I found seventeen texts from Madison and Aida asking me why I wasn't at school. I told Madison I was sick and Aida that today was a bad day and that I was taking a day to myself. Madison hoped that I'd get better, and Aida said she expected a story later. I didn't respond to either of the last received messages.

I put my phone back on my nightstand and looked at the clock again for the first time in however long. It was two in the afternoon. I was surprised no one had come to get me at all. I figured daddy would have gotten fed up and come to talk to me, but I didn't smell him near or hear him come in.

I got out of bed and walked to my dresser to get some clothes. I didn't bother putting on anything but my pajamas and a pair of socks. The rain and cold didn't bother me anyway. When I was dressed, I went back to my bed and took my phone in my hand. I went to Jacob's cell number and opened the window to text him. I sat on my bed for a long time just staring at the screen. I felt like a monster for what I'd said. He probably thought as much, too.

After several minutes of just staring at the screen with my fingers on the keys, I closed my phone and threw it at my nightstand. The phone held up and fell to the floor, still in fine condition. I went to the living room to the large bookcase and looked for something to read to pass the time. I picked something at random and ran right back to my room. When I actually looked at the title of the book, I sighed in relief. _Taming Of The Shrew_. I really liked this play. But to my dismay, I read it in an hour, once again leaving me with nothing to take my mind off of things. And it was only Thursday. I couldn't imagine going to school tomorrow. But it would probably be the better thing to do. I'm sure AP Spanish and College Algebra might be able to occupy my mind enough to keep me calm.

I waited all afternoon to get a text or call from Jacob. I hoped relentlessly that he would want to talk to me. Even if he only wanted to yell at me, I would've taken it. The several times I attempted to text him, I always chickened out at the last minute. And when I called, he didn't answer his phone. Neither his cell or his house phone.

"Damn caller ID to hell." I mumbled to myself after calling him for the umpteenth time that day.

"Calling him over and over isn't going to get you anywhere." I turned around on my bed and saw momma standing in my bedroom doorway. I sighed.

"I don't have much other option."

"You could go over there and talk to him face to face."

"Momma, he's still mad. You know how he is when he's mad. He's three times as stubborn when he's mad." Momma smiled.

"And you're not?" Momma and I stared at each other for a while, me giving her a dirty look. Momma gave me a warning look, and I softened my face. "Nessie, trying to call him won't help. And I know, I've done it."

"Please don't remind me." Momma rolled her eyes and was sitting on my bed in front of me in seconds.

"Nessie, you need to get over that." I looked up at her.

"Get over what?"

"Nessie, what was between me and Jacob isn't there anymore. Not to the extreme it used to be. Jacob loves you now. And I love your father." I hesitated a moment before responding. And in my hesitance, a thought came to my head.

"But you've kissed him." I mumbled. "Twice."

"Renesmee, listen to me. It happened. Yes. And I'm sorry, but we can't take that back. Neither can we take back our history. But you need to stop feeling threatened by me."

"What makes you think I feel threatened by you?" I raised my voice. Momma gave me a look of death.

"You watch your tone, Nessie. I don't have to help you." I took a deep breath and nodded. When I was calm, momma continued. "Nessie, you have nothing to worry about. Just like Jacob has nothing to worry about."

"Jacob's the one that was jealous."

"Yes. And you're jealous of the relationship he and I used to have so you used that to prove a point. Which, by the way, was way out of line and below the belt."

"So now this is all my fault?"

"Yes. I hate to break it to you, but yes." I sighed. Momma and I were silent for several minutes, me staring at the wall and momma staring at me.

"What should I do?" Momma started stroking my hair soothingly.

"Go talk to him. And truthfully, cooking him dinner might not hurt either." I looked at momma.

"Do you think he's even home?" Momma shrugged.

"That's what the pack is for, right? Call one of them and ask." I sighed.

"I don't want to. They'll have heard about what happened and think it's my fault."

"It is your fault."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's any of their business." Momma sighed.

"Honey, they can read each other's minds as wolves. It's not something they can control. It's not like you and Jacob are the only ones that argue either."

"Why, did any of the others have weird switch over relationships?" Momma smacked the back of my head and I yelped.

"That's enough, Nessie. I don't care how mad you are, you do not snap at me."

"Sorry."

"Talk to him, Nessie. And it has to be face to face. And I'm sorry honey, but sometimes, you've got to just swallow your pride when you do that. Couples argue, honey. That's life."

"You and daddy never argue."

"We never argue in front of you. Your father and I have argued before and we will argue in the future. We don't argue nearly as much as a lot of other couples because we love each other in a way that most people don't.

"You and Jacob are the same. You two love each other in a way that most people could never dream of having. You two don't argue a lot, but the fact of the matter is, you do."

"But I don't want to." Momma sighed.

"No one ever does. But it can't always be avoided. All either one can do is admit your wrong and make up. That's what you need to do." Momma stood up from my bed and walked to the door. "Call someone, honey. And I'll let you stay home from school tomorrow too if Jacob still isn't home. Just send a text to my phone to let me know." I nodded.

"Alright. Thanks momma." Momma smiled.

"You're welcome, honey." Then she walked out of my room and closed the door. I heard her leave the cottage and start running back to the house.

I reached for my phone and opened it, looking through my contacts list. I was trying to decide who I should ask. I went down the list of names and settled on Seth. He was the least judgmental of the group and I knew he wouldn't be mean to me. I decided to just send a text for now. I wasn't sure if he was in class right now or not. Or if he was hanging out with Alyssa and didn't want to be bothered.

I simply asked if Jacob was home and sent the text. While I waited, I reread the Picture of Dorian Grey. We needed to read it for English class anyway. Then I heard my phone go off. I put down the book and opened my phone. Seth had sent me a message back.

_Sorry, Nessie. He changed last night and just started running. He hasn't been home since. Billy's waiting for him to get back. He was pissed Nessie. Like seriously pissed._ I sighed and opened to respond.

_I know, I know. I hit below the belt. Do you know when Jacob will come home?_

_No, I don't. I'll call Billy and tell him to let you know when he comes back, okay._

_Thanks Seth. And if he isn't back by some time tonight, I'll be over there tomorrow to wait for him. _

_Alright. I'll let Billy know._

I didn't respond after that. I only hoped that Jacob would be home soon. I knew he was mad, but I didn't think he was that mad. It really hit me how low that blow was. I texted momma and let her know that I needed to stay home from school tomorrow too. She said she'd handle it and wished me luck.

By the next morning, I still didn't have a response of any kind from either Seth or from Billy. Evidently, Jacob hadn't come back yet. I was really starting to get worried. I'd already been worried, but now it was worse. Late morning, I asked momma to let me borrow one of the cars. She let me borrow the Volvo and I made my way to Jacob's apartment. Billy was there when I arrived, but he didn't stay long. He just wished me luck with fixing this, being sure to say it with a little blame towards me in his voice, and left me to it.

I waited at Jacob's apartment all day. At one point, I got a text from momma asking me how it went and I had to tell her that he hasn't shown up yet. She wished me luck again and we didn't talk again that day. After a whole day of doing nothing but sitting on his couch and watching movies, he still wasn't home. At one in the morning, I decided I couldn't stay up anymore. I didn't bother going to my room. I wanted to hear the door open if he came in during the early morning. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at noon. I shot up from the couch and started looking around the apartment. As last night, I was alone.

I went back to the front of the house and sat on the couch again to wait. I looked at the millions of texts and calls from Madison that I hadn't answered. I started answering them. I gave her the same ailment excuse as before and left it at that. She wished me to get better and I thanked her.

Three hours later, he still wasn't home. I asked Seth if any of the pack members heard anything. He told me that last they all checked, he was in Alaska. I sighed and hoped for the best. I didn't want to wait anymore. I wanted to fix this and make everything right again. I hated fighting with Jacob. I just wanted to hold him and hear him tell me that he loved me and that everything was okay. By eleven that night, he still wasn't home. I fell asleep on the couch again, even though I didn't want to sleep.

I heard the front lock start to open and the sound woke me up. I looked at the clock on the DVD player and it read three in the morning. I shot up from the couch and walked around it to watch the door. My chest started hurting from the pounding of my heart. I watched as I heard the door unlock and finally open. I tried to control my breathing when I saw Jacob walk in wearing just his sweats with a sneer still on his face.

"Jacob?" He looked up at me at last when I said his name. Jacob still looked angry at me. I couldn't blame him for it.

"How long have you been here?" I didn't like the tone of voice he was giving me, but I let it go.

"Since Friday." Jacob looked at me a moment before he gave me an exasperated sigh. "Are you still mad at me?" Stupid question, but the silence was scaring me.

"Truthfully?" I nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I am."

"Oh." The room was really quiet after that. I was staring at the ground. I don't know what Jacob was looking at, but I was sure it wasn't me. A few minutes of silence went by before I heard Jacob start to move. I looked up and saw him go to open his door and leave. "Jacob!"

"What?!" He turned around to face me after slamming the front door closed. I breathed in so I could contain my voice.

"I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. What I said was mean and hurtful and I had no right to compare your actions and Marcelo's. I know you're mad and you have every right to be, but please don't leave me hanging waiting for you to run off your anger or something." Jacob's face didn't change.

"So what? You want to deal with me while I'm angry?"

"I'd rather deal with this while you're angry than not deal with it at all." Jacob grunted and crossed his arms.

"Alright." He walked over and stood right in front of me with the same stare. His expression didn't soften even when he was standing right in front of me. "Let's deal with it." I sighed.

"I said I'm sorry." He shrugged.

"Okay." I stayed calm.

"Look, Jacob, I'm not my daddy. I can't read your mind. Just tell me what it'll take for you to forgive me." Jacob laughed without humor.

"You don't need to do anything. That's the aggravating thing." I gave him an aggravated and confused stare.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing you could ever do could make me not forgive you."

"So now you forgive me?" He rolled his eyes at himself.

"Yes."

"But I thought you were still mad."

"I am. I'm mad because I was able to forgive you so quickly."

"Why is that bad?" Jacob looked at me again.

"Nessie…….Why do you always bring up me and Bella?"

"What?"

"Why do you keep bringing that up? Every time you and I argue, you find a way to bring Bella into this. It's as if you're punishing me for something that happened long before you were even thought of."

"I'm not punishing you. I was trying to prove a point. I'll admit I shouldn't have said what I said, but I had no intention of punishing you."

"Then why do you do it?" I was about to answer, but I stopped myself.

I forced myself to think about what he was telling me. I thought about all our fights. Not all of them ended with me bringing up him and momma, but the ones that did were some of our worse fights. I wouldn't deny that it bothered me that Jacob and momma used to be in love. But I never thought I'd made it all that obvious. I was a lot closer to daddy than momma, yes, but that had nothing to do with it. At least I don't think so. I'm simply more a daddy's girl was all. I didn't want to think of myself as jealous of momma. But I knew that, in essence, I kind of was. There would be times where it would feel like momma knew Jacob better than me, like the other day when she told me what I should do to handle mine and Jacob's fight. I didn't like there being someone that knew Jacob better than me. It was such a childish way to feel that I didn't want to admit that's how I felt.

"You really want to know?" He looked slightly surprised, but hid it.

"Yes. I do."

"I'm jealous." Jacob didn't bother hiding his surprise then.

"Jealous? What the hell do you need to be jealous of Bella for?"

"What the hell do you need to be jealous of Marcelo for?" Jacob went quiet again. We looked at each other with pondering looks on our faces.

"You know my issues with him." He bent down slightly so that he was facing me. "Nessie, Bella loves Edward. I knew that, but I pursued her. And it only hurt me more than I could ever imagine. You're the one that helped me pick up the pieces."

"So now I'm the rebound girl?"

"No, you're not the rebound girl!" Jacob said, raising his voice a little. "You're my life. The girl I was meant to be with. I loved Bella, yes. But not the way I love you. Nowhere near the way I love you. You're the one that made me feel whole again, put a smile back on my face, and healed all the pain I felt at the hands of Bella and of my own persistent recklessness. The moment I saw you, I wasn't tied to earth anymore. I was tied to you. The past, the pain, none of it mattered anymore. All that mattered was you and that beautiful smile and brown eyes I fell in love with." I smiled and wrapped my arms around Jacob in a hug. He hugged me back.

"Jacob, I love you." I felt him smile at long last.

"I love you too, Nessie. With all I am."

"I mean it, Jacob. I love you. No one and nothing will ever change that. Marcelo and I are just friends, as I've said a million times. He won't take me from you. Marcelo's handsome and charming and all that…but he's not you."

"I still want him to stop."

"Jacob, even if he was trying to get me to fall in love with him, he'd never be able to do it. I don't love Marcelo. I love you."

"That doesn't mean I have to like him." I sighed.

"I won't make you two be friends. But I'll tell him to lay off. I promise."

"Alright. If you promise." I smiled and nuzzled into my nook. I'd missed my nook in the short time I was separated from it.

"Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Jacob chuckled lightly under his breath.

"Yes. I'm not mad at you anymore." Jacob and I hugged without saying anything else for several minutes. I breathed him in and listened to his heartbeat. He breathed in my scent and started kissing my neck gently. "When was the last time we kissed?" I opened my eyes taken off guard by the random question.

"A few days ago." Jacob took his face from my neck and lifted me up so he was standing up straight and I was at his level, with my feet dangling off the ground.

"I should probably make up for that." I felt my heart race at the sight of Jacob's face. It was desperate. Wanting. I smiled with the same expression on my face.

"You probably should." Jacob smiled wider in humor.

"You're right."

With that, Jacob brought his lips to mine and we started to kiss. It was gentle at first. Simply our lips. Almost as if we were testing the other for their sincerity. But it wasn't long before I depend the kiss by licking his bottom lip. He opened and our tongues started their duel. We both sighed from the feeling of each other's tongue roaming around. I could feel tears in my eyes from my joy and relief that everything was really okay. I pushed those thoughts into Jacob's head, showed him how happy I was and how much I truly loved him. His arms tightened around me and it was suddenly harder to breath. But I couldn't seem to make myself care.

Jacob's arms loosened, then his hands started to roam. They went all along my back and brushed my butt. I even felt him squeeze a little. It made me smile. Jacob smiled too. Then his hands went along my thighs and pulled my legs around his waist. As soon as my legs were securely wrapped around his waist, his hands traveled back up and into my hair. His fingers spread and I started to feel even more light headed. I brought my hands to his hair in imitation of what he was doing.

I moaned when his tongue tickled the roof of my mouth and I felt Jacob smile proudly against my mouth as he kissed me. I felt Jacob start to move, but I didn't pay attention to it. I only paid attention to what we were doing. When Jacob stopped moving, one of his hands left my hair and before I knew it, I felt myself slowly going backwards. Our lips parted and my back gently touched the couch. Jacob was directly on top of me and his left hand was still in my hair. Jacob looked at me with passion in his eyes. He looked like he was millions of miles away, but somehow still focused on me. He moved his lips to my jaw and started kissing along it until he reached my ear. He sucked on my ear and I trembled. I felt Jacob smile again. My hands started to trail down his back and his hand did the same.

"I love you. I always will." I felt the tears again as I smiled.

"I know." I kissed his jaw. "I love you too. I always will." Jacob's smile widened impossibly more.

"I won't let that little Beaner brat get to me anymore." I giggled and smacked Jacob's face lightly.

"Don't call him a beaner, Jacob. That's a horrible thing to call a Hispanic."

"People call me derogatory names and I don't bitch about it."

"Oh come on. What names?" Jacob smirked.

"Let's see. There's reds, red skins, savages, heathens, squaw, injun. Need more?"

"That doesn't mean you should call someone a derogatory term."

"I still call Edward and the others leeches. Am I not allowed to call them that?" I shook my head.

"No, you're not. By calling them leeches, you're calling me one too." Jacob shook his head.

"You're far from a leech Nessie. Leeches are gross worm like things. Ugly as all hell those stupid things are. You're not ugly."

"Neither are the others."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Jacob was silent for a moment before he laughed.

"Fine, I won't call him a beaner and I won't call the Cullens or their friends leeches anymore. Happy?" I smiled.

"Yes."

"Does that mean I can't tell Rosalie blonde jokes anymore?" He pouted and pretended to be hurt by the idea. I shook my head.

"No. That's still okay. That's not racism. That's just stereotyping." Jacob laughed.

"Isn't that bad too?" I shrugged.

"A stereotype never started a movement, now did it?" Jacob thought about what I said and shrugged.

"I guess not." Jacob rested his head on my chest and I ran my fingers through his hair again. "I will admit one thing to you though/"

"What is that?"

"Black people complain about being slaves and such, and yet here they are, a half black man president, and black people with all the same opportunities as any white man out there."

"Okay."

"And yet Native Americans are still kept on reservation like no more than cattle."

"That's not right."

"At least black people have respect these days by most. Indians are seen as either lazy or power hungry greedy bastards that own casinos. It just aggravates me sometimes."

"And yet you don't care when someone calls you a derogatory term?"

"I usually get back at them is someone does. In the end, I make them feel worse about themselves when they were trying to put me down." I giggled.

"That sounds like you." Jacob smiled.

"Maybe I should open a casino." I started laughing. Jacob laughed a little with me. "I'll call it 'The Pack'." I kept laughing as I tried to talk.

"Tell me you're joking." Jacob smiled.

"Of course I'm joking. The last thing I'd want to handle is a bunch of people wasting away their money while they're drunk out of their minds. Not to mention I'd be obligated to offer counseling for people with gambling problems. That defeats the purpose of having a casino, wouldn't you say?" I giggled.

"I suppose it would, wouldn't it?" Jacob and I kept laughing for a few more minutes and took the time to breathe a little. "Just to be clear, you don't plan on ever opening a casino, right?" Jacob chuckled and nodded into my chest.

"No, Nessie. I don't plan on ever opening a casino." Jacob nuzzled again. "Although, maybe one of these days I could have my own repair shop." I looked at Jacob with a smile.

"That's a great idea. You could have it close by. And I know for a fact that the repair shop in Forks isn't the best." Jacob shrugged.

"It's more the fact that they're really overpriced."

"Have better prices, then." Jacob chuckled.

"Can't argue with that."

"And daddy and the others could help you." Jacob shook his head.

"Nessie, baby, I know you mean well. But if I do that, I want to do it myself. I'd get more pride out of it if I did it myself. I mean, if I really need the help, then I'll accept it. But let me try doing it myself before you start asking Edward to throw money at me." I made a sound that was an odd combination of a sigh and a light groan.

"If that's what you want." Jacob smiled and kissed the base of my throat.

"Thank you, Nessie."

"You're welcome." Then, for some reason, something Marcelo had said came to my mind. I was sure daddy already knew about it, but I wondered if Jacob did. "Jacob?"

"Yeah, Ness?"

"Sorry to bring up Marcelo, but he said something the other day that was a bit concerning." I felt Jacob roll his eyes.

"And?"

"It had to do with Stefan and Vladimir." Jacob took his head off my chest and looked at me.

"What?"

"He said that they've made themselves comfortable at Dracula's castle. It's a big tourist sight."

"Do you think they'll do anything?" I shrugged.

"Marcelo thinks they will."

"And how does he know this?"

"Huilen knows someone in Europe that told her. You don't think they'll start something do you?" Jacob became thoughtful.

"I hope not. If they do, they won't be nearly as hostile in their law making as the Voulturi were. I think they might end up having more allies because of their leniency."

"What will we do?" Jacob was quiet a moment. Then he sighed and kissed me sweetly.

"We'll cross that bring if, and when we get to it. But let's not think about it right now. Please?" I smiled and brushed his cheek.

"Okay. We'll think about something else." Jacob smirked. "What do you say I make you a nice fish fry? I'm sure you're hungry." Jacob grinned from ear to ear and kissed me. Then he lifted us off the couch and spun me around with a gentle laugh. When we were done spinning, Jacob kissed me again.

"Oh marry me, goddess." I giggled.

"You get the ring and it's a deal." Jacob chuckled.

"One day. That promise band I gave you will have to do for now." I looked at him confused.

"Promise band?" Jacob put me down and took my left hand. Then he pointed and the woven band he'd given me for my first Christmas.

"It's a Quileute version of a promise ring." I looked at him surprised, then I giggled to myself.

"You promised to marry me when you didn't even think of me that way?" Jacob smiled.

"I always like to plan ahead." We laughed and he hugged me to him tightly. "Would you rather have a ring?" I shook my head.

"No. It's too soon for a ring. Someday, yes."

"Alright. White gold and a diamond. I'll know it when I see it." I felt myself shudder in joy. I liked gold, but I much preferred white gold and silver. I thought it matched more things. And I liked the sparkle better with the diamond.

"How did you know?" Jacob chuckled.

"I know you. That's all the facts I need to get you the perfect one. But like you said, it's too soon. One day." I smiled and nodded.

"I can't wait."

"Neither can I." Then Jacob kissed my cheek until his kissed brought him to my lips. Jacob and I kissed and he held me up as he started walking again. When he got to where he wanted to be, he placed me back on my feet and ended the kiss my kissing my nose. "I'm starving." I giggled.

"That's what happens when you skip town without packing." Jacob chuckled.

"I'll remember that."


	8. Epidemic

**Epidemic**

I didn't want to go to school that Monday. Over the whole weekend, Jacob and I hadn't let go of each other for even a few minutes. Jacob drove me to school that day. By the time we made it there, I had two minutes before my first period class started. There was no one walking along the sidewalk or in the open hallways when we got there, not even the kids that were often late to class. When Jacob found a parking spot, he put the car in park and undid his seatbelt so he could reach over to me.

"Jacob, school starts in less than five minutes. I need to get to class." I said it with a smile on my face, but I was being serious. Jacob shrugged and kissed my nose.

"I'll call you in." I laughed lightly when he started kissing my jaw.

"Do you even know the number to the school?"

"I'll walk you to the office. They'll right you a pass to give to your first period teacher or something." I giggled again as he kept kissing and started kissing along my neck.

"And what's my reason for being late to class?" Jacob was silent a moment as he kissed back up my neck. He spoke when he reached my ear.

"Traffic?" Just then, the bell to start class rang. Jacob started chuckling and I sighed.

"Traffic it is, I guess." After he was done laughing, Jacob brought his lips to mine and kissed me tenderly. I kissed him back and trailed my hand up his neck and rested it on his cheek. Then the morning announcements came on through the speakers. Jacob groaned.

"We should probably wait until they finish the announcements." I giggled as he kissed me again. I pushed him away from me.

"Jacob, seriously. We need to get going. You have to work too, you know. Let's go to the office and you can take the blame for me being late." Jacob chuckled.

"Does it always have to be my fault?" I smiled.

"Technically, it is your fault. You and I were up most of night and I over slept." Jacob smirked.

"I don't recall us doing anything strenuous enough for you to be that tired." I flicked his nose teasingly and he chuckled.

"It wasn't strenuous that kept me up. It was your running mouth that kept me up."

"You weren't much quieter than me."

"That's not the point."

"It's not?" Jacob and I looked at each other a moment, both trying to keep a straight face. I was the first one to laugh. Jacob started laughing with me. "Okay. Let's go now." I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Traffic right?"

"We were late because there was an accident and we were stuck behind several rows of spectator cars." Jacob chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Nessie." I smiled at him and kissed him one last time before I climbed out of the car.

Jacob followed after me and we walked to the attendance office. When we got there, Jacob and I offered the excuse we'd come up with and the woman wrote me a pass to my first class and cleared me. Jacob walked with me halfway to my first class, giving me a sweet kiss and telling me he loved me. I repeated the words before I kissed him back and walked to my class while Jacob walked to his car and drove away.

I got to class and sat down as soon as I handed the pass to my teacher. She made a point of lecturing me in front of the class for being late and missing part of her lecture, but I brushed it off and let her have her moment. When it was lunch, I was immediately carrying Madison on my back, whether I permitted her to jump onto my back in the first place or not, and started trying to take my temperature and suggesting at home remedies. She noticed the heat of my skin and desperately attempted to make me go to the nurse, but I assured her that there was nothing wrong with me. Thankfully, Aida walked up to us and distracted Madison with name calling and unwanted nicknames.

Aida texted most of her questions to me during lunch and for the rest of the day. I told her most of what happened. I didn't go into detail about mine and Jacob's fight or into our make-up, but I told her the gist of the situation. She was fascinated with Marcelo, but I tried to avoid most of her questions about him. He was a little more flamboyant to explain than I would like.

Marcelo was still staying at the house. He knew my birthday was only a few days away and he wanted to be there to celebrate with me and my family. He even called his parents to come. I wasn't sure if Nahuel and his sisters, aside from Yaretzi, and aunt were coming. The Denalis were coming to visit too, of course, but that was about it. They were celebrating my birthday later, though. Madison took it upon herself to throw me a birthday party on that weekend and I didn't have the heart to tell her that we had plans. Momma and daddy didn't argue about it. Alice was displeased, but she got over it when daddy said we could just have the family party the next day.

Marcelo, as promised, stopped tormenting Jacob and daddy for the most part. He still flirted with me a lot, but Jacob did his best not to let it bother him as much. There were times when he would have enough and force Marcelo away from me for a while, but that didn't happen a lot anymore. Each time Jacob had to, I would remind him that I'd like him to be nice to him and every time I would give him a look and he would always say the same thing.

"I said I wouldn't let him bother me anymore. I never said anything about pretending to be nice to him." Marcelo just gave a cocky smirk every time.

By the time it was the weekend of my birthday, Madison was giddier than a preppy girl given the title prom queen. She told me to come to her house at noon and that she had planned something really special for me. The Saturday of the party, Jacob, momma, and daddy drove me to Madison's house. Jacob was in the back seat of the Volvo with me while momma and daddy stayed in the front seat.

"Did Madison tell you how long she was planning to have the party last, Nessie?" I shook my head.

"Not specifically. I think she'd keep me forever if she had her way, but that's Madison for you." Jacob chuckled.

"I'm surprised she hasn't directly asked you out on a date." Daddy spoke next.

"She wants to, but she chickens out every time." I looked at daddy surprised.

"How do you know that?"

"I hear her thoughts every time I pick you up from school. The girl thinks louder than I ever thought possible."

"Ah." Momma spoke next.

"Who was she inviting?"

"Candy and Megan for sure. I think she also invited Matt and Kevin. I made her invite Aida, so I know she'll be there."

"Aida's the creepy girl that worships Satan right?" I nodded. "And she'll be there?" I nodded. Momma sighed in relief. "Good. That other friend of yours is weird." Jacob laughed.

"One of her friends is a Satanist and you're more offended by the one obsessed with her? That's awfully politically incorrect of you Bells." Momma rolled her eyes.

"It's not her sexual preference that offends me, Jacob. What bothers me is that the girl has no sense of personal boundaries."

"Only with me, momma." Momma giggled.

"That doesn't make it any better, Nessie."

"It's okay, momma. Aida will be there to help me keep her in check." Momma shrugged.

"Whatever you say, honey." Jacob then said a thought out loud that daddy didn't bother to answer before.

"What is she exactly? Is she gay or bi?" Daddy sighed.

"She doesn't even know, Jacob. She knows she likes girls but there are several guys that she likes too. But they're also really stupid in her opinion."

"So undecided?" Daddy shrugged and nodded.

"Pretty much."

There weren't many cars outside Madison's house when I got there. Aida was sitting on the front steps and appeared to be waiting for me. She looked aggravated. More so than she already usually did, anyway. I looked at daddy questioningly. Daddy shook his head at my thoughts.

"She's outside waiting for you. She didn't want to go in without you, to put it demurely. She went in there to put your present with all your other gifts and got out as soon as it was there." I giggled.

"That sounds like her." I looked at Jacob and we smiled at each other.

"Have fun, Nessie."

"Thanks Jacob." I lifted my head to give Jacob a kiss on the lips. I kept the kiss brief. I didn't want to give daddy reason to clear his throat at us. Daddy chuckled to himself at my thoughts. Momma looked at daddy questioningly, but decided she would find out what was so funny later.

Jacob kissed my forehead and I kissed momma and daddy on the cheek before getting out of the car and walking over to where Aida was sitting. When I reached the door, she perked up a little when she saw me. She looked different today. Her hair didn't have as many colors in it as it usually did. Now it was black with red and purple streaks throughout. I heard the Volvo drive away when I finally reached the door.

"I like what you did with your hair, Aida. It's more subtle." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't bullshit me. I couldn't afford to get all the other colors so I had to stick with just two. I'm just glad I have a huge bucket of hair bleach at home." I smiled awkwardly.

"You know, Aida, you could just say thank you." She shrugged.

"What can I say, it's not my style." I rolled my eyes.

"I know all too well." We started walking up the steps slowly. "So who did Madison invite?" Aida popped before answering and sighed.

"The entire sophomore and junior class. And a couple of freshman and seniors, but hey, who gives a shit about the freshman, right?" My eyes widened.

"Why would she invite that many people?! How does she even know that many people?!" Aida gave me an aggravated look that seemed to ask if my question was serious.

"Nessie, its Forks. A little over three thousand people in the entire town. Everyone knows everyone. Get with the program." I glared at her.

"I don't even know that many people."

"I'm sure you do. You know everyone in the school."

"Yeah, by name at best. Most of the kids stare at me weird and the junior and senior girls don't like me." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Nessie, I'm going to tell you a little secret. Teenage girls are fucking shallow. They can't stand it when there's a girl that's prettier than them and who gets men's attention with no effort at all. That's high school for you."

"Aida, they 'whisper' to each other that I'm a slut."

"Because they wish they were as hott as you. Nessie, that's really all it is. Against all common belief, women are not that fucking complicated." I sighed.

"Still, why would Madison invite them?"

"Because she invited the junior guys and a few of the seniors. And where the boys go, the skanks go. Simple high school hierarchy, Nessie. And note to you, that senior, Bobby Craile, he thinks you're hot. He specifically told his friends that he plans to ask you out."

"Why are you telling me this? It's not like I need to prepare myself to say no or anything."

"I'm just giving you a heads up, Nessie. But I recommend against telling them you're already seeing someone. I mean I get a kick out of mass suicide, but I don't think a little town like Forks can handle to lose that many youths in one day." I kept glaring at Aida as we stood outside in front of the door.

"I wasn't going to tell them about Jacob. Mine and Jacob's relationship is none of their business." Aida laughed under her breath.

"Just don't let Madison have any part in the wedding. If you do, she'll invite every man in that house that wants to upskirt you." I smacked Aida's arm as hard as I could. She groaned loudly.

"You're done now." I took a deep breath. "Now let's go in there, open my presents, force down some vile chocolate cake," just saying anything about eating chocolate anything was enough to make me feel nauseous, "and get out as soon as I'm able."

"You should have brought that Mexican guy. Pretend he's your boyfriend. I think a mass suicide would be a wonderful idea on second thought." I rolled my eyes.

"What Mexican guy? I know no Mexican guy."

"He's the dude with the face."

"For God's sake, will you stop telling me a person's the dude with the face when you want to describe something." I rose my voice a little, but not enough that anyone inside could hear. There was already loud music playing anyway.

"The guy that's at your house. Flirts a lot. Complete dick wad that you can't help but want to fuck." I rolled my eyes.

"I never said I wanted to do that. I said he was a guy you couldn't help but like. And for the last time, he's not Mexican. He's Brazilian. And Portuguese."

"I'm not seeing the difference." I stared at Aida a moment with a blank face before I started pinching the bridge of my nose and finally sighed.

"Let's just get in there and get this over with." Aida smirked and nodded her head. Then she reached into her purse and grabbed something. She handed it to me and I gave her a strange look. "Pepper Spray?"

"A sprits a day keeps the perverts away." I held back the laugh that wanted to come out from her little saying.

"Let's just go inside." Aida smirked at me but otherwise said nothing more.

I ringed the doorbell of Madison's house and waited a moment for her to hear it over the loud music she had playing. It took a little longer to answer the door than Aida liked. She was fuming over Madison's 'idiocy' within seconds of me ringing the doorbell. After a minute, Madison finally came to the door and screamed in excitement when she saw me standing at the doorway. She practically leaped onto me in a big hug. I patted her back as she hugged me and screamed in my supersensitive ears about how happy she was that I was there and how great of a time I was going to have.

"I know you said you didn't want to invite a lot of people, but I couldn't help myself. Everyone wanted to come."

"It's okay, Madison. Thanks for planning a party for me. I hope you didn't feel put out or anything." Madison looked shocked when I said that. Aida rolled her eyes.

"Please. She'd set her ass on fire if it meant she'd be even marginally closer to getting some from you." Madison looked away from me and glared at Aida. She was about to say something in return, but someone from the living room told us to come in there.

The voice was urgent, so we went to the living room and came in to the sight of everyone surrounding Madison's plasma TV. They had CNN on and they were doing a section on world news. At the moment, they were doing a story on new political developments in Iraq and Iran, so I didn't understand what was so urgent. The guy that had called for us to come, Ben, was a junior that was in my AP English class.

"It's not this story. It's the story they're talking about after this. Did you guys hear about what happened in Lithuania?" Just about everyone shook their heads except me. I nodded.

"You mean the seven girls and four doctors that went missing two months ago?" He nodded at me.

"Yeah. They have an update and it's really freaky. I saw the news this morning." I hadn't seen the news that day.

Emmett, daddy, Jasper, and Carlisle were always, always watching the news. But they always preferred to wait until the end of the day. They said that was when you could get a story on everything that happened that day depending on what station you went to. Then the story that Ben wanted us to see finally came on. The man that had been originally speaking about the developments in the middle east made the camera turn its attention to an older, mid thirties-ish, brunette woman in a purple tweed fitted jacket with a little too much lipstick on.

"_**Thank you, Andy."**_She looked away from the man and looked forward at the camera._** "Two months ago, CNN received a report that seven women and four doctors had gone suddenly missing in Vilnius, Lithuania. What was strange about this incident was that there were no traces of evidence left that could pinpoint a suspect and no known motives behind their disappearances. Family and friends also claim that there was no known connection between any of the victims, seeing as they've never met before.**_

"_**Co-workers at the Vilnius Red Cross Hospital say the missing doctors disappeared after leaving work, never taking their cars. Eye witnesses say they haven't seen anything suspicious in the parking lot of the hospital the day the four doctors went missing. The missing doctors are as listed: **_She showed their pictures as she listed their names.

_**Pediatrician, Doctor Antanas Romanauskas**_

_**Infertility Doctors Oskaras Murza and Vytoutas Sadouskas**_

_**And Gynecologist, Doctor Ferdinand Norkaitis**_

"_**Likewise, the girls that went missing were taken from their homes or never returned back to their homes or dorms. The seven women are as listed: **_As she said the names, she showed their most recent pictures.

_**Third year Psychology Major at the University of Vilnius: Ausra Norkus**_

_**First year at Vilnius Business College: Angelika Tirva**_

_**Lazdynai Secondary School's:**_

_**Nadja Peczulis and**_

_**Alexia Scusivick**_

_**And Uzupio Secondary School's:**_

_**Anastazzja Rutkauskas**_

_**Auksa Rudmin**_

_**And Aska Petrokis**_

"_**Early this morning, these people were found dead in the Neris River just two miles outside the city. All four of the doctors were drained of blood with what detectives say looked like human bite marks on their wrists. The girls were also completely drained of blood. But unlike the doctors, six of the girls had no scars or cuts of any kind that would cause them to have such massive blood loss. **_

"_**But one of the girls, Ausra Norkus, looked as if she were torn apart from the inside. She was not only drained of blood, but her feminine organs, bladder and hip and pelvic bones were completely torn apart.**_

"_**Autopsies showed that the other six girls were carrying what doctors thought were newly fertilized eggs. However, the spot in their uteri where the 'eggs' were found had large red marks that indicated forced, unnatural blood flow to the uterus from the rest of the body. **_

"_**Detectives have taken mold samples of the bite marks from the wrists of the doctors who were murdered. They were able to identify two distinctively different bites using dental records. But what has everyone baffled is the age of the records of these bite marks. The first bite that detectives recovered belonged to a man. Records reveal that his name was Mykolas Yakov Rimsa. Born March 10**__**th**__**, 1861 in what is now Ŝakiai, Lithuania. A man who was reported by his young wife to have been murdered at the age of thirty two in 1893. **_

While she spoke, a picture from an old newspaper showed the image of the man she was talking about. I hated pictures from the eighteen hundreds. The way the photo came out never gave the people justice. But the picture showed a man that was moderately handsome for a man of his time. But with the picture being in black and white, I couldn't make a fair opinion about his appearance. The image then changed back to the reporter who was telling the story.

"_**The second bite belonged to a woman. A Lithuanian Jew by the name of Niele Tyszkiewics, born April 5**__**th**__**, 1914. She is reported as being taken by Nazi soldiers to the Auschwitz death camp in 1940 with her sons and husband from Trakai, Lithuania. **_

As the reporter spoke, the station showed a picture of the woman they spoke of. The picture was in black and white and wasn't in much better quality than the picture of the man. Like the other women in the picture, her hair was short and poorly cared for, which could only mean they'd cut her hair for a wig. But from what I could tell in the photo, she was a pretty woman.

"_**Records of Auschwitz show that, like most people that had gone there, she was killed. Only months after arriving at Auschwitz, she was murdered by being thrown into the fire while still alive, but not before seeing her husband, and eight year old son hung, as well as seeing a Nazi soldier throw her newborn baby boy in the air and shot. **_The screen returned to the reporter as she spoke.

"_**How their bite marks could be found on the victims is beyond Vilnius Police, but they are going to continue looking for whoever was responsible for this dreadful and bizarre crime."**_ Madison then took the remote from Ben and changed the channel to HBO where they were showing a movie I'd never seen.

"Come on, Ben, it's supposed to be a party. Why would you turn on something so depressing?" Ben had a weird, creepy smile on his face.

"I wonder what killed them. Maybe they provoked angry spirits or some shit like that." Aida rolled her eyes.

"How does a tard like you get into AP classes?" As Aida started to argue with Ben, I was frozen where I was.

I knew partially what was going on. Somehow, both the people the news spoke of had become vampires. And the bite marks on the doctor's wrists were from them drinking their blood. And, they must've used Ausra Norkus as a host for Mykolas' child. It was safe to assume that Niele and Mykolas were mates in their vampire life. But what I couldn't understand were the other girls. They didn't have any bites on their wrists or any other parts of the body and they weren't torn apart from the inside to indicate a hosting. I couldn't understand what could have happened to those other girls. It made no sense. I was forced out of my trance when Aida put her hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and saw that she looked concerned.

"You alright, Nessie?" I looked blankly at first, but then took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just spaced out for a minute." I said that because everyone was looking at me. But I put my hand on Aida's arm and pushed my thoughts into her head. _Aida, those people were killed by vampires, that much I think you figured out yourself. One of the girls was killed by something like me, a half bread that she was carrying. I don't know how the other girls were killed though. _Aida gave me a knowing look and nodded.

"Do you want to go home?" I was about to say I should, when Madison intruded on the conversation.

"Don't say that, she just got here. My mom is making enough food to feed a village and she made your cake. It's a chocolate cake with coconut flakes in the cream cheese icing." I smiled at Madison politely. I hated chocolate enough as it was. But coconut was the worst. Most food to me tasted like dirt, but coconut tasted like watery tar.

"Sounds great Madison." Madison smiled and clapped her hands.

"Hurray! We'll start opening your presents when we eat the cake. But first, let's eat that food my mom made." Everyone spoke in agreement and went to the patio where Madison's mom had all the food in a buffet manner.

Thankfully, Madison had a dog. I was her dog's favorite person the whole time I was there. While looking like I was eating the food, I would wait for the right time to take it away from me and give it to her dog. Aida would try talking to me, but most of the junior and senior guys from my classes were forcing themselves into my time. A guy from my science class in particular. His name was Trey Anderson. I think he would be a nice guy if he wasn't so bent on asking me out. In his efforts, he was nothing short of a prick.

"What was the homework in science class yesterday?" I looked up to face Trey from pretending to eat my lunch.

"We had to do a work sheet on mitosis and meiosis. The teacher's checking it first thing on Monday." Trey nodded awkwardly and took a bite of his sandwich. I started petting Madison's dog.

"So are you getting your license soon?" I already had it, but he didn't need to know that. Instead, I nodded my head.

"Tomorrow."

"Awesome. Who did you have for driver's ed?"

"You wouldn't know him. I took driver's ed privately." Technically, I wasn't lying. I had private driving lessons with Jacob and Alice. He might know of Alice, but he didn't know either of them personally. He nodded his head, impressed.

"Awesome. Does that mean you'll be driving to school on Monday?" I shrugged.

"Maybe." He looked shocked.

"What do you mean, maybe?" Suddenly, a few more of the junior and senior guys came over to talk to me. Brett, a senior in my science class, was the first one to start talking.

"Did I hear that you're getting your license tomorrow?" I half smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." Collin, a junior in my English class, spoke next.

"That's cool. Do you have your own car yet? I know, being a Cullen, you'll have one hell of a car." I shrugged.

"I'll like my car no matter what it is." They all chuckled.

"That's what we all say, right?" The other guys started laughing too. I didn't laugh. I smiled a little, but that was about it. I was trying to think of a way to politely get away from them and talk to Aida. Ben spoke next.

"So, Nessie, are you and your family doing anything for your birthday tonight?" I nodded my head. We weren't doing anything until tomorrow, but I knew where they were going with this.

"Yeah. We're going out to dinner and such." They all looked disappointed.

"That's a shame." Trey said. "Maybe we could all hang out another time." I shrugged.

"I guess." They looked about to say something else, but Madison forced her way through them and grabbed my hand with a big smile on her face. I'd never been happier to let her drag me somewhere.

"Nessie, Nessie, it's time for the cake!! Come and blow out the candles!!!" Everyone followed us as Madison dragged me to where the cake was on the table on the patio. I had to admit that with the sky as grey as it was, the candle light looked nice.

"Remember to wish for something when you blow the candles." Shannon said. I gave her a weird look.

"You mean blow out the candles." She and her two friends, Kelley and Jackie, laughed under their breaths.

"I don't think it matters. You do both after all." All the upper classmen girls laughed to themselves. Madison gave them glaring looks and Aida rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Shannon. If you can't be mature, than you'll have to leave." Shannon smirked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Nessie." I knew they didn't mean it, but I didn't feel like pushing the matter. I couldn't understand why they of all people would want to come to a party thrown for me.

"Go on, Nessie. Blow out the candles. And remember to make a wish." Madison said with a huge smile on her face. I sighed, did my best to look like I was wishing for something, then blew out the candles. When they were out, everyone started cheering, and there was suddenly a box in my lap addressed from Madison. I opened the little card and smiled to myself.

"From your bestest best friend, Madison, with love. Thanks Madison." She smiled triumphantly.

"Don't thank me yet. Open it." I smiled and did as she said. I tore the wrapping paper and lifted the lid to the box and smiled at what was inside. It was a pair of black peep toe booties that tied, but didn't cover the top of my foot and a strap came around the back to ensure keeping it secure to my feet. On both sides there were two open half circles and it was lined with white string for accent.

"They're beautiful, Madison, thank you." She beamed.

"You really like them?" I nodded.

"I adore them." Madison was grinning from ear to ear and she started crying and hopping up and down while clapping her hands. Then she launched herself at me and gave me a hug around my neck. I pated her arm.

"Oh, Nessie, I'm so glad you love them." I smiled.

"You know how much I love shoes." After a moment of just hugging me, Madison let go of me and Aida brought over her gift to me. It was a smaller box, about the size of a large book.

I tore the wrapping paper away and used my nails to cut through the tape that was keeping the box securely closed. I had to giggle when I saw the gift. It was the Korn Issues doll and it was placed in a way that made it look like it was holding onto a picture of Korn with Jonathan Davis in front of the group with a heart around his head.

"Just so you know, the doll's yours. The picture's still mine. I put it with the doll to make it cute." I giggled a little more.

"And you succeeded. Thanks Aida." She smirked and nodded her head. Then I was handed another box.

Every opened box was soon replaced with another box. I got a lot of fake diamond jewelry, most of which was from the guys. Trey was sure to make it a point that his necklace was the most sparkly and had the most 'diamonds'. Most of the girls got me CDs or clothes that I think they knew I wouldn't like. Meagan and Candy gave me a blue v-neck sweater from Abercrombie, so I was glad they at least thought of me favorably, even if the sweater still reeked horridly of Abercrombie. I would have to ask Esme to help me get that smell out somehow.

"Okay, and here's the last gift." Madison handed me a box that was signed from Shannon, Kelley, and Jackie. I was wary about opening it. They looked a little too eager for me to open my present from them.

I tore the wrapping paper and looked at the big white box before opening it. When I opened it, my eyes widened in horror. Madison looked at my present, first with her usual smile, then with a face of pure horror, which she immediately aimed at Shannon and her friends. The other upperclassman girls were laughing under their breath with them. Aida looked at what was in the box, then at Shannon and her friends. Madison was still standing next to me in blatant shock where as Aida ran over to them with a look of death.

"You fucking cock munching whore! What the fuck is that?!" Shannon tried to take control of her laugh.

"What does it look like? They're lubricants and condoms."

"Yeah, no shit! Why the fuck would you give her something like that?! What kind of sick joke is this?!" Before Shannon could say her fill, Madison stomped to her with a look of death that came close to the potency of Aida's.

"How dare you give her such a thoughtless gift?" Trey came in with his statement.

"Yeah, Shannon. That's not funny."

"Yeah, seriously." Bobby said. Eventually, all the boys were giving Shannon and her friends a piece of their minds. I just placed the box on the table and sighed. I got up from my seat and made my way to the door to leave. I was stopped by a familiar hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and saw Madison's pleading eyes.

"Nessie, I am so, so, so sorry. I didn't think they would be so mean as to do something like that or I would've never invited them. I'm so sorry. I'm kicking them out right now." I shook my head.

"It's okay, Madison. Thanks for the party. Up until that little prank gift, I had a great time." Madison looked like she was about to cry.

"I just wanted to throw you a nice sweet sixteen party, and Shannon ruined it. I'm so sorry, Nessie." Madison was crying now. I sighed and took her in my arms for a hug and patted her back.

"Don't worry about it, Madison. It wasn't your fault. Really, thank you for the party. You're a great friend, Madison." She hiccupped and kept crying.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Really." Madison breathed in and started to hug me back.

"I'm so sorry, Nessie." I shook my head.

"It's okay, Madison. Really, it is." Madison cried a little more before she let go of me and wiped away her trail of tears.

"I'll get your gifts and wait with you outside for your ride." I nodded.

"Thanks, Madison."

"I'll wait with you too." Aida said when she walked up to where we were standing. I smiled at her.

"Thanks a lot you two." Madison smiled sweetly and apologetically and walked away to go retrieve my presents. Aida walked closer to me, and at the same time, Shannon and the other upperclassmen girls walked over to me too.

"Sorry about the gift, Nessie." Shannon said without the slightest hint of remorse. "I was hoping you'd think it was funny. It was a joke was all. No hard feelings, right?" I had the brutal desire to punch her and make sure I broke her jaw, but I restrained myself and gave a smile that was as fake as hers.

"None at all. I'm sure business has been slow for you anyway." Aida started laughing and Shannon glared at me. Even Shannon's friends had to put in an effort not to laugh. After a moment, Shannon forced another fake smile.

"Actually, I thought you might need them. I was sure to get you flavored condoms too. I know how much that will make your gentleman callers happy." Shannon's friends started laughing with her. Aida glared at her. Instead, I smiled and decided to use something that Aida said earlier to my advantage.

"That's so sweet of you, Shannon. It must be such a pain and all, what with all your gentleman callers and your friend's gentleman callers deciding they'd rather spend time with me than you."

A crowd had gathered and all the guys and my friends were laughing at my insult. I heard Ben yell burn in the distance with immense humor in his voice. Shannon and her friends then decided they were done throwing around insults and let their anger finally show clearly on their faces. Some of the girls in Shannon's group were actually starting to turn red. I noticed two of Shannon's friends walk out of the crowd, but I didn't pay attention to them. I thought it might be safer to keep my attention on Shannon and her friends. If they snuck up behind me or something, I'd know anyway. Shannon walked closer to me with a scowl on her face.

"You listen here you little bitch, I don't know where you get off thinking you can take our boyfriends, but you better fuck off."

"I never took your boyfriends. Nor did I ever do anything to provoke their decisions, whatever those decisions were. You have no right being angry at me for something you should be mad at your ex-boyfriend for." She immediately looked at Trey. Trey held up his hands defensively.

"Don't look at me like that. I dumped you because you were a bitch. Nessie was just something to go after once I was rid of you." Shannon's eyes widened and her friends gasped in horror.

"Once you were rid of me?! You asshole, how dare you?!" I rolled my eyes and was about to walk out, but I felt a presence behind me as Shannon yelled at Trey. I looked behind me and saw the two girls from earlier that had left the group. I backed away from them when I saw the huge container of caramel they had in their hands from the ice cream bar Madison's mom had set up.

I ended up backing into Shannon, who immediately turned around to look at me. The girls in front of me tried throwing the caramel in my hair, but I grabbed hold of the container before they could and tossed the goo on their clothes. They screeched in anger when I did. That's when I felt someone grab my hair and I heard everyone start yelling at Shannon. Shannon dragged me by the hair to one of the tables and I gripped her wrist tightly, making her scream in pain. I was about to run, but she grabbed onto my hair again. This time, she had something in her other hand. It felt like a knife when she ran the knife through my hair, cutting it from the spot she was holding onto.

There was a silence in the area. No one was talking. All I heard were racing heartbeats and heavy breathing as I reached for the spot I'd felt her cut at and felt myself choke when my hair was gone. My hair, which easily reached halfway to my knees when straight, now only reached my shoulders in its curly state. I couldn't seem to breath. I kept grasping at the empty air, hoping that maybe I was imagining my hair's absence. Meanwhile, my friends and all the guys started yelling at Shannon again. Madison and Aida ran to me and started shaking me gently.

"Nessie! Nessie, are you okay?! She didn't cut your neck or anything did she?! Oh my god, your hair!!"

Aida was yelling at Shannon, who was making her long speech about how happy she was over what she'd just done. I was staring at the ground in horror. I felt tears piercing my eyes as Madison screamed her questions at me and Aida's voice ringing in the background with all the other shouts. I started hearing Shannon's words after a moment. It was the last part of her little speech, but it was enough to be the last straw. Shannon spouted her opinions, like how much of a slut I must be and that being the only reason all the upperclassmen guys like me so much and how much she hated me and how I must have every disease in existence. With that last part said, I decided I was conscious enough again to have had enough.

I balled my right hand and spun around with that hand in the air, swinging it across Shannon's face. I heard a deafening crack that normally would worry me, but I couldn't muster the strength to care, not even a little. Everyone went silent again when they heard Shannon scream and land on the ground. She was already crying and calling me mean names again. I felt the tears start to sting, but I refused to cry. Not in front of her. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

I decided then, that I wasn't satisfied yet. She called me another bad name before I kicked her as hard as I could in the chest. I heard another loud crack. All the cracks had been loud enough for even human ears. I heard someone scream to call the hospital and I heard another person scream to get me away from Shannon. I finally walked away from her, but not before kicking her as hard as I could one last time, earning another loud crack and seeing her spit out a lot of blood. I felt my throat burn, but I did my best to ignore it and walked away. I heard a set of footsteps follow me.

"Let me start off by saying that was fucking bitchin. With that said, are you out of your mind? She could sui you for that." I turned and looked at Aida with a look that could kill plants.

"Let her." I was surprised with my voice. It was still it's normal musical tone, but it was frightening and held a bone chilling aggression. Even Aida was backing away from me in fear. "My family has enough financial influence to have her tried as an adult for assault if she even thinks about suing me."

"Still, Nessie, did you not hear those cracks? You could've killed her. Once again, pretty bitchin, but seriously, Nessie, try to be cautious."

"I hope I hurt her bad enough that she'll never be able to breathe on her own again! I hope she'll never be able to chew her food again!"

"Dude, I know you're angry about her cutting your hair, but aren't you overreacting just a margin?"

"I don't think so." Aida was about to say something, but I growled low at her and she got the message and backed away from me with her hands in the air defensively.

I ran out of the house and onto the front steps and called Jacob to pick me up. I hung up as soon as I told him to come get me, not giving him a reason why I sounded so angry or what was wrong. I forced back any tears as I waited for Jacob to come get me. In the meantime, Madison brought my presents, except for Shannon's, and waited with me for my ride. Aida came out and held a few of them. Madison tried to speak to me, but Aida was sure to tell her not to. Jacob couldn't get here fast enough, but when he finally was here, I bolted to the car and got into the passenger's seat. Jacob looked at me wide eyed as Aida and Madison put my gifts in the back seat for me.

I didn't answer him immediately when he started asking me what happened. Aida and Madison saw the look in my eyes and ran back into the house as soon as all my gifts were in the backseat. When Jacob drove away from the house, I finally let myself cry. I grasped at where I used to be able to feel my hair, only to touch my bare shoulders. Halfway to the house, Jacob had enough of hearing me cry. He pulled the car over, turned it off, then breathed and undid his seatbelt to scoot slightly closer to me.

"Nessie, baby, what happened? Tell me what happened." He said the words with a gentle, concerned voice. I let myself collapse into his arms and touched his cheek to show him the whole party down to every last detail. "Oh my god." I kept crying and crying, listening to Jacob give me words of reassurance that Alice and Rosalie would be able to fix my hair, but I kept crying.

Jacob and I sat in the car, him cradling me, as I cried and cried. When I finally had enough control over myself to lift my head off Jacob's shoulder again, I noticed Jacob's shirt was ruined and stained with tears and the clock read forty five minutes later. Jacob turned the car back on and drove the rest of the way back to the house where everyone was, Denalis, Yaretzi and Rafael, and all.

Jacob parked his car in the garage and daddy, followed by everyone else, were waiting for us to get back. Obviously, daddy knew what happened and would no doubt be furious about it. Jacob and I got out of the car, and as soon as I was out of the car, I heard screams and people rushing over to me to access the damage done to my hair. I started crying again when Alice began to reassure me that she would fix my hair. Momma and the others asked repeatedly what happened and daddy explained it to them with a sort of awed fury in his voice. I was glad that the others got as mad as daddy and momma did. Emmett didn't even laugh at the whole condoms for a birthday present thing. Any other time, he would appreciate something like that. But then again, it wouldn't be as funny to him, I think, if it was because the girls were inferring that I was a slut.

Marcelo leaped to my side and started sweet talking me in Portuguese, trying to help me see the bright side of it and that my hair would grow out and that I will look beautiful at any hair length. But the more everyone was talking, the more I cried over my lost length. Alice ushered me to the kitchen where she started fixing up my hair, first by washing it. Emmett finally laughed when daddy filled him in on the damage I did to Shannon for what she did.

"At least she got what she deserved. Good job, kid. I'm proud of you". I finally smiled a little when Emmett said that to me. At least I did something right.

Jacob was holding my hand the whole time Alice was fixing my hair and never so much as flinched when I squeezed his hand extra tight when I felt Alice cut off more than I thought she would. All the while, he told me I was beautiful no matter what and that even so, it would grow back. For some reason, it sounded more assuring when Jacob said it. He was the one whose opinion on my hair mattered the most I suppose.

When Alice was done with my hair, she half smiled and told me to sit and wait for her to bring me a mirror. I didn't really want to see my hair. I could only imagine what Shannon's little gag did to me. While I waited for Alice, Jacob was smiling at me sweetly and Yaretzi and Marcelo were smoothing my hair.

"It's beautiful, Nessie." Jacob said. Yaretzi agreed.

"Don't worry, Nessie. It's so beautiful, it will seem like Shannon did you a favor." I sighed.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Marcelo chuckled.

"Renesmee, Renesmee, if there's one thing I know about my mother, it's that she never lies." Yaretzi smiled at Marcelo, then at me again.

"I promise, Nessie, it's perfect." Then, Alice finally came downstairs with a large mirror in her hands. I stood up from the chair and Jacob stood up to stand right next to me. Alice had the same small smile on her face and Rosalie held the other side of the mirror and showed me my reflection.

My hair no longer had its curls, at least for now. Alice had straightened my hair out so there wasn't a single bump of curl or wave left. My hair wasn't nearly as long as before. Before, my hair would have reached my knee. Now, it only reached only just below my shoulders. Alice added a few layers to add to the new look and gave it more shape. Looking at myself in that mirror, I already missed my long hair and I was petting it, wishing it was back.

"I know it's not your long hair, but do you like it?" Alice asked hopeful. Jacob started running his hands through my hair like he always did, I think trying to sooth me maybe. I breathed and nodded.

"Thanks, Alice. It's not as bad as I thought it would be." Alice smiled.

"I tried to keep as much of the length as possible. I have to admit, the layers are phenomenal." Marcelo smiled and stood in front of me.

"I must say, Renesmee, straight hair becomes you." I smiled.

"Thanks Marcelo."

"And it's as thick and smooth as ever, Nessie." I looked at Jacob with a grateful smile.

"You think so?" Jacob nodded with a big grin.

"Yeah." Alice hopped up once.

"You're hair's getting a little on the long side, Jacob. I've been meaning to cut it again." Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Can't it wait?" Alice shook her hair.

"Sorry, Jacob, but no. You're hair grows faster than dandelions. If I leave it for much longer, it'll be down to your cheeks by the end of the week." Jacob looked at Alice a moment, then looked at me. I smiled and he rolled his eyes at Alice.

"Fine." Jacob sat in the seat I'd been in. "Have at it, Tinkerbelle." Alice gave Jacob a lecturing smile and Jasper chuckled to himself at the nickname.

Alice finished Jacob's hair really quickly, giving him the usual long cropped look she gave him. Jacob, of course, only let her do this because I liked his hair like that. When Alice was done, Jacob ran his hand through his hair and I did the same. Daddy surprised me by walking to us with a serious expression on his face.

"What you saw on CNN today…" daddy started. I looked down.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's what happened." Daddy looked down to in thoughtfulness. Jacob didn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" Momma asked daddy. Everyone in the room tensed up to hear what daddy would say. Instead, I asked everyone to let me show them the section I'd seen. Once I'd shown everyone, they looked baffled.

"But that was so sloppy." Said Esme. "Why would they leave their victims so out in the open like that?"

"I don't know." Daddy said. I heard Carlisle make a soft groan.

"I think I might know." We all looked at Carlisle expectantly and waited for him to explain. "They don't have to worry about the Volturi anymore. Why should they worry about being thorough?"

"Even without the Volturi, vampires are usually thorough simply to prevent the victim from changing. They didn't even do that." Jasper said.

"Maybe they didn't care if they changed." Emmett said. "Maybe they decided they might as well let it happen if it could."

"But even so, to leave them out in the open like that. It's so out of character for our kind, with or without the Volturi breathing down our necks."

"Do you think maybe Vladimir and Stefan are involved?" Marcelo asked. Everyone looked at Marcelo thoughtfully. Finally, Carlisle answered.

"I doubt it. Stefan and Vladimir are loners. They don't get themselves involved with others unless it were to involve opposing the Volturi. Now that the Volturi are gone, there's no one to go against except maybe them, and they're indifferent to the activities of others."

"Usually, yes. But what if they're up to something that would later be to their better interest?" Rafael said to our surprise. Carlisle thought about it for a moment.

"It's possible I suppose." Carlisle turned his attention to daddy and , for our benefit, asked his question out loud. "Where they thinking about anything suspicious before they left last year?" Rafael interrupted.

"It doesn't matter what they were thinking about when they left last year. Plans change. They very easily could have started thinking about this when they returned back to Romania." Daddy nodded his head reluctantly.

"He has a point, Carlisle." Daddy said reluctantly. Carlisle looked at Alice.

"Have you seen any changes in their activities, Alice?" Alice shook their hands.

"No. I wasn't specifically looking for them. And so far, their actions haven't come to the point where it directly effects us."

"Start watching them carefully and update often." Alice nodded her head and went to leave the room for some privacy. Jasper followed after her. Then daddy groaned in what seemed like anger when someone had a thought. Rafael voiced that thought.

"What if she can't see them?" Everyone looked at Rafael now.

"How do you mean?" Asked Carlisle.

"Renesmee showed us that in the news report, one of the girls was torn apart from the inside right?" Everyone became immediately aware. Alice seemed to whine.

"So I probably won't be able to see them because they have a half breed?" Rafael nodded.

"But at least if you don't see Vladimir and Stefan, we'll know they're involved with the vampires responsible for those murders." Alice shrugged.

"I suppose. But that doesn't help us."

"And we can't try to locate Felix or the others because they have their own."

"Doesn't one of them have a phone or something?" Daddy nodded.

"They all did, but that was when Aro, Marcus, and Caius were paying for the phones. Without them, there's no one to pay for the plan."

"So they just left all that money in the Volturi vaults?" Rafael said condescendingly. Daddy rolled his eyes.

"I doubt very seriously that they would all take that money." Daddy stopped what he was doing and looked at Jacob. "Very true, Jacob." Daddy looked at Alice. "Alice, try to look for Alec and Jane, and try Heidi too. Maybe they can help us find Demetri and the others." Alice nodded with a renewed smile.

"I'm on it." Alice again left to go to a spot where she could concentrate, Jasper following behind her. Jacob spoke then.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Carlisle looked aggravated.

"I don't know. It's not like any of them have done anything that vampires haven't been doing for years anyway, aside from the half breed of course."

"It's not just that. I get the feeling the Dracula twins aren't done yet if they're involved in this. My concern is how are we going to handle this if it gets too far? It's not like I can force my whole pack on a plan to Europe."

"That's the least of our concerns." Emmett spoke after daddy.

"But they would come to us, wouldn't they? I mean, Vladimir and Stefan would want a coven as strong as ours on his side, without a doubt, including our new formed ties with the former Volturi guards."

"So you think, if they do anything, they'll come to us?" Jacob asked. Emmett nodded.

"That's my theory. Vladimir and Stefan are way too cocky not to try and rub it in our faces regardless."

"They can't possibly be that stupid though." Daddy shook his head at Jacob's words.

"You would think. But those two have massive egos. It wouldn't be beyond them to go out of their way and defy logic just to make themselves look better."

"So we're already assuming they're up to something?" Rosalie said.

"It's a safe bet, knowing our luck." Rosalie looked at Emmett a moment before saying anything again.

"I say we relax and wait and see how this goes. Just because something happened doesn't mean that Vladimir and Stefan are involved. And, for all we know, what happened could have just been two vampires that decided not to make the effort to clean up after themselves."

"But what if it's not?" Jacob asked. Daddy sighed to himself.

"If it's not, we'll find out soon." Everyone looked worried, but Esme forced everyone out of their trance.

"Well, now's not the time to worry about it. Nessie's birthday is today and I say that's a lot more important to think about than something that happened a good three thousand miles away." Momma smiled at Esme and back at me.

"I'm with Esme on that." Everyone started nodding their head in agreement. Rafael still looked unconvinced, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

That night and the day after that were concentrated on my fourth/sixteenth birthday. It was hard to keep my mind on something like that, but it was all I could do to make myself feel better. It took a long time for me to get used to my hair. I spent most of that time petting my hair willing it to get longer.

Sunday morning, Jacob woke me up with a kiss and a smile. Everyone was waiting for us when we got back to the house from the cottage. It was as if nothing had happened as we celebrated and opened presents. Rafael was the only one that still looked concerned.

Jacob ended up saving his gift to me for last. I could see why. Later in the day, Jacob took me outside to show me my new car. A car that had no manufacturer other than him. He'd built it from the ground up just for me. It looked more or less like a coupe and it was a bright blue color with white leather interior.

"When did you find time to do this?" I asked. Jacob smirked.

"I made time. It took three years, but I got it done. It was a pain hiding it from you, though. Edward was nice enough to handle that part for me." I looked at daddy and momma and they smiled back at me. "Go inside. See how you like it."

With a smile on my face, I did what he said and got into the driver's seat. Jacob let himself into the passenger's seat and handed me the keys to the car. The keys had little picture key chains with pictures. One was a recent picture with me and the family. The other picture was of me and Jacob that we had some guy take during our little vacation in San Diego. I had to move up the seat before I could start playing around with the car.

"Do you think anyone will mind if I take this for a spin?" Jacob and I looked at daddy and he nodded his head.

"There's your answer." I smiled and turned on the car. It was smooth and purred like a cat.

I stayed on the highway for the whole test drive. Jacob played around with everything to show me how it all worked. He even had a stand for my mp3 player so I could listen to that while I drive and a stand to keep my phone, all of which was discreet so it didn't look ugly if neither were there.

"Do you like it?" I giggled.

"Do you need to ask? It's awesome. I can't believe you made it from scratch." Jacob smirked.

"I had started looking for a nice car for you, but nothing seemed right. I came up with something I thought was better and built it."

"You know me so well." Jacob smirked.

"I try." I giggled and kept driving the car. I was eager to tell everyone how much I loved my new car and how great a job Jacob did. When we got back to the house, I parked my car in my new parking spot and nearly did a happy dance.

"Jacob, it's perfect. I love it." He smiled.

"I'm glad. Do you like the color? I wanted to make it yellow at first, but it didn't look right when I did it." I shook my head.

"It's perfect. The blue is perfect. The white leather is perfect. It's perfect." Jacob chuckled.

"That's what I was going for." I smiled and undid my seatbelt so I could scoot a little closer to him. When I was close enough, Jacob undid his seatbelt and scooted the last few inches to get to me.

When he was close enough to me, we kissed sweetly. I brought my hands to his face and let my hands trail into his hair. Jacob wrapped his arms around me and pulled me a little closer to him and his hands started to rub my back lovingly. I felt him smile when I sighed and I smiled into the kiss with him. Then he licked my bottom lip and I opened to let him in. I sighed again and he groaned deeply and softly. One of his hands stayed on my back while his other hand trailed into my now shorter hair. Jacob combed through my hair as if it was as long as ever. Jacob's tongue played with mine and felt its way around my mouth. I did the same with mine to him, all the while breathing in his musky scent. Then, suddenly, I started smelling what I thought smelled like cherries and cheese cake. Then I heard a tapping on the driver's side window. Jacob and I took our mouths apart and looked out at the window and saw Marcelo wearing a cocky smile.

"Goodness, Renesmee. You haven't had this car an hour and you're already having boys in it." Jacob reached over and rolled down the driver's side window. Marcelo backed away a little to allow the action.

"Could you come here, Marcelo?" Jacob said and motioned for him to come closer with his forefinger. Marcelo smirked and came closer to the window. When Marcelo was close enough, Jacob punched him in the nose.

"Jacob!" Jacob looked at me innocently.

"What?"

"Why did you do that?" He shrugged.

"He pissed me off." I rolled my eyes as I heard Jacob start to laugh and kissed me. Marcelo started to chuckle as he recovered.

"Worry not, Renesmee. Your lapdog hasn't hurt me." Jacob growled.

"He's not my lapdog, Marcelo." Then I looked at Jacob. "And don't growl at him. You had your free punch, don't push your luck."

Later on, Alice was able to locate Jane and Alec, but they weren't near a phone. She had to wait until they were roaming the city and next to a payphone. By the time I went to bed that night, Alice still didn't see them in the right place. But by the next day before I left for school, Alice had reached Jane and Alec while they were walking around in Venice. They said they were all already aware and would keep an eye on the situation. Daddy asked them to call us if something strange happened.

When I went to school that Monday, I got a lot of compliments on my new car. Shannon wasn't at school that Monday. I was told she was still in the hospital from those punches I threw at her. Bobby told me that I'd broken her jaw and four of her ribs. All the guys were crowding around me the whole day. None of the girls in my classes came near me, though. I heard them talking about that, but I didn't really care. They knew better by now not to cross me.

Madison was as apologetic about what happened as before and Aida had gotten over her initial shock of the incident and was wishing she'd had a camera when it happened. Everyone was concerned that this might turn into a legal matter, but I knew that even if it did, I wouldn't have to worry. We had enough financial and personal resources that I wouldn't have to worry at all. I didn't tell them that much though. I just told them not to worry about me.

Marcelo and his family left and went back to Brazil a few days after my birthday. The Denalis left a little sooner. The Wednesday after my birthday. I was sure to spend an afternoon with Yaretzi before she left. I took her to the mall in Port Angeles just to walk around and talk. After we'd spent an hour walking around talking, Yaretzi chose her time to console in me about something.

"Now that I have a moment to tell you." I looked at her from the shirt I was looking at.

"A moment?" She nodded.

"I wanted to talk to you about this alone. I asked Edward not to say anything."

"Why?"

"Well, it is a private matter. And I haven't talked to Rafael about it yet." I looked at her.

"Why do you want to talk to me about it if you haven't even spoken to Rafael?" I shook my head. "Wait, before we continue, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" Yaretzi smiled.

"I was thinking about having another baby." I stared at her surprised a moment. She just kept smiling. Eventually I laughed once under my breath, not in an insulting manner. It was more out of surprise.

"Wow. That's definitely something you want to think about before actually doing." She smiled and started fiddling with another shirt that was next to the one I was playing with. "So you haven't talked to Rafael about it?" She shook her head.

"Not yet. I don't know how open he'll be to the idea."

"Why wouldn't he be open to the idea?"

"Because he always says that if he could get grey hair, it would be all Marcelo's fault." I giggled.

"Well, if that's all it is, that doesn't mean he wouldn't be open to more kids. I mean, let's face it, my parents would be grey too if it were possible. That doesn't mean momma and daddy wouldn't gladly have another child if they could." Yaretzi smiled.

"So you think if I talk to him about it, he'll be open to it?" I nodded.

"I really do. You guys did a good job with Marcelo. Maybe you should try giving him a sister." Yaretzi giggled.

"I did what I could with Marcelo. I wish he wasn't such a…." She hesitated on what she was really thinking.

"Womanizer?" She sighed.

"I didn't want to say that, but it's true I guess." I smiled.

"Marcelo's a nice guy, don't get me wrong. I mean, if I wasn't already in love with Jacob, I might actually love Marcelo." She smiled.

"I know. He really does like you. I'm just glad he's not forcing himself onto you."

"He's not." We started walking to a different store. "But really, talk to Rafael. I'm almost certain that he'll be happy to have another baby." Yaretzi smiled.

"Thank you, Nessie. For someone so young, you're so wise." I smiled back.

"I do what I can."

Yaretzi spoke to Rafael as soon as we got back to the house. She and Rafael went out hunting so they could talk in private about it. When they got back four hours later, Yaretzi and Rafael had silly grins on their faces. Yaretzi walked over to me as Rafael wondered aimlessly into the house.

"So what did he say?"

"Guess." We laughed and hugged.

"Congratulations, Yaretzi. Now all that's left is to tell Marcelo." She giggled.

"We can wait to tell him until I'm actually pregnant." We laughed and hugged again.

"You're probably right about that. How do you think he'll take the news when it happens?" Yaretzi shrugged.

"We'll find out when it happens."

"I guess you will, won't you?"

Once Marcelo and his family were gone, nothing happened. Daddy, Jasper, and Emmett were watching the news more than ever and were waiting for a call from any of the former Volturi guard about anything that might cause concern. Nothing out of the ordinary came up on the news. It got to the point where each of them were watching a different news station the whole day. But even with that, the only interesting thing that happened was an earthquake in Singapore.

Jacob and his pack kept an eye on the news too, but came with the same results. Jacob and his pack were extra cautious and watchful during their patrols over the next few days too. And with all the extra watching, Jacob was out a lot more, meaning he would spend as few hours at work as possible without getting in trouble and then go straight out to the woods to start patrolling. For all that time, the only communication I had with Jacob was through texting him during school. I wanted to call him during his lunch break, but that's when I have history.

Two months later, there was a news report about a woman in Prague who suffered a wolf attack, but we didn't think anything of it. The girl had been hiking in the mountains, so an attack from any kind of animal wasn't all that out of the ordinary. After a few days of that report though, the news started following that girl again. The doctors had thought she'd gotten rabies and gave her shots for it, but whatever she got from the wolf was eating away at her frontal lobe in her brain. I was watching that news report with daddy, Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper when something horrifying came to mind.

"Daddy." I said while I was sitting on the couch next to daddy. Daddy knew what I was thinking about.

"That does sound disturbingly familiar doesn't it?" Carlisle was the next to speak.

"But she was bitten by a normal wolf. Normally, when this happens, they're attacked by someone who's already a werewolf. And when they are, they don't usually live."

"Not to mention they don't usually have the good sense to look for help. The virus should work faster than that." Carlisle shook his head at Emmett's comment.

"That virus is different from vampire venom, Emmett. Vampire venom moves through the body at the same rate regardless of health. That virus can work slower or faster depending on a victim's personal health. It ranges from a week to a month. The most common changing time is two weeks."

"Even so, what does this have to do with anything that happened two months ago?" Jasper said. "So the Volturi neglected to kill one infected wolf and that wolf attacked a woman who will be put down by the family as soon as they figure out what's wrong with her." Daddy shook his head.

"I doubt the family will allow the hospital to kill her. People put more faith in medicine these days. They'll be relying on the doctors to figure out what's wrong with her and how to fix it." Carlisle sighed.

"That's the problem, Edward. There is no way to cure it. Once the virus eats away at the brain, it's gone. It can't grow back."

"That doesn't mean the family won't try to keep her alive. There's a whole legal matter to it that wasn't there in the past. People will argue that killing her would be wrong regardless of the state she's in." Emmett said with thoughtfulness in his voice.

"Should we try to call Jane and Alec or Heidi about this?" Alice said when she was suddenly standing behind Jasper with her hands on his shoulders.

"No, not yet. Let's wait. They'll call us when they think this is serious enough to call us over." We all nodded in agreement at Carlisle's decision.

As Carlisle said, we stayed quiet and watched the news every day, waiting for some information from the former Volturi guards. As we assumed, a week after the second news report, doctors noticed the girl was growing in height and was growing access body hair that she didn't have before. Two days after that report, she started getting physical mutations in her face. And shortly after that, they noticed her canines growing sharper and longer. All the while, the reporters would show footage of her ordeal in the hospital, making a point to show her every scream. They were also sure to point out that, during the change, her screams started getting deeper and deeper until it was more a roar or a growl.

"Daddy, this isn't good. What happens when they figure out she's a werewolf?" Daddy and momma's faces looked blank.

"I don't know, honey."

While that girl was changing, several more people were started to go to the hospital throughout Prague with the exact same symptoms. There were also reports about these same attacks happening increasingly in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland. By the time we saw the first report of an attack in Austria, the first victim in Prague was completely changed and they were having a hard time keeping her contained four weeks after she was attacked. She'd already attacked and killed three nurses and her own mother.

"_**Doctors all over Europe are astonished at the condition of Nadezda Svoboda, a seventeen year old girl who suffered an attack by a wolf only four weeks ago. When she first came into the hospital, she exhibited all the same symptoms of a rabies victim, such as excessive drooling and restlessness. Doctors were able to give her shots for rabies and send her home.**_

"_**But only two days after she was sent home, the family brought Nadezda back into the hospital, claiming that the drooling and restlessness had gotten worse and that she looked miles away and wouldn't respond to them.**_

"_**Doctors did a cat scan of her brain and discovered that half of her frontal lobe had been eaten away by the now unknown virus. Doctors have never seen a disease like this before and had no previous knowledge of this disease to fall back on. What was once thought to be no more than rabies has turned into something far more serious and unknown. Three days after coming back to the hospital, one of the nurses noticed Nadezda starting to grow access hair all over her body. Doctors tried to inject her with more rabies medicine, but they discovered they were unable to get a needle through her now much thicker skin. **_

"_**Reports have also started coming in that men and women of all ages are suffering the same attacks as Nadezda, the first victim. One of the more serious and immediate cases was a man in Slovakia by the name of Branik Novak, who exhibited the same symptoms as Nadezda mere hours after arriving at the hospital. Symptoms that didn't show in Nadezda for days after coming to the hospital.**_

"_**Each victim was seen to grow a whole foot in a half in a matter of days of the attacks. And, when the physical changes started, the victims are seen to suffer from extreme pain, causing them to scream day in and day out, never being able to sleep for longer than a half hour. Doctors have attempted to give them anesthetics, but with no success getting the needles or IVs through their skin. Doctors have been forced to move these victims into another part of the hospital so as not to disturb the other patients.**_

"_**Reports of these attacks have been coming up all over Europe and are frightening the public. Citizens of all Europe are warned to remain cautious while outdoors and to stay out of the woods. **_

"_**Yesterday, Nadezda was reported to attack and kill her mother, and three nurses who were attempting to hold her down. Hospitals have started calling in the expertise of veterinarians in the area of the attacks. But they haven't been able to get any further than anyone else. Search parties have been formed to try and find and kill the wolves that are contaminated so as to prevent any further attacks.**_

"_**No one knows what could have caused this sudden up rise of such an unusual disease and doctors have yet to think of a way to cure or prevent it. Doctors are claiming that this disease, though not fatal, is a disease that is making its victims less than human. The victims start by showing the same symptoms as normal rabies, then they gradually start to become what doctors would call a vegetable because of the damage done to the frontal lobe of the brain. Then they grow access hair and their skin thickens to an extreme where doctors are unable to get a needle through their skin.**_

"_**Then they start to show physical changes, such as face disfigurations and the growing of their front top and bottom canines and the growth of all their other teeth. During these changes, the victims suffer extreme pain from the moving and excessive growing of the bones. **_

They showed a picture of Nadezda before her attack. She looked like a normal, happy teenager. Then they showed what she looked like now after four weeks of suffering. Her jaws were extended and hair was all over her face and body with canines that were four times their original size. Her pupils were a frightening bloodshot red and the normally white part of her eyes were a disturbing yellow.

"_**By the time Nadezda stopped changing, her family called her something more animal than human. Doctors strongly recommend that they allow them to attempt to euthanize her and end her misery. Controversy over this has risen all over Europe. Civil Rights activists and PETA activists claim that killing her would be cold and cruel, comparing killing her to killing a cancer patient because they supposedly have no hope to live. **_The reporter was then told something by someone off camera, to which her face became rushed and surprised.

"_**This just in. Nadezda, the original victim in Prague, has escaped from the hospital and is now roaming free throughout the city and the woods. Police have made catching her a top priority and are keeping the other infected in high security rooms to avoid another escape, regardless of the advancement of their condition.**_

"_**Doctors have started calling this virus the Werewolf virus, calling it a virus that robs us of our humanity and turns us into untamable beasts. It has been labeled by doctors as a frightening epidemic that has been nicknamed by Sci-Fi and Underworld fans all over the world as Rise of the Lycans. **_As the news report continued, I could feel a chill going down my spine.

"I know what you mean, Nessie." Daddy said.

"Now are we concerned?" Emmett said to Jasper condescendingly. Carlisle started rubbing his face.

"This is bad. Forget about what happened in Lithuania. This is much more serious."

"What are we going to do?" Esme's voice seemed to hold a worry in it. Carlisle sighed.

"I don't know. I don't know if there's much we can do."

"We have to do something, Carlisle."

"What are we going to do, Esme, kill every infected wolf and human in Europe?" We all went silent for a moment. Then daddy sighed in half relief and half aggravation. Then I started hearing footsteps coming from the backyard.

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw figures coming towards our house. I went to the door and started walking out of the house. Daddy didn't stop me, so I knew it was safe. The figures started becoming more defined and easier to see. One of the figures moved forward faster than the others. Then that figure came out of the trees with a big smile on her face. I smiled when I saw Lia running to me.

Behind Lia were all the other former Volturi guards and their kids. Alec and Jane stood near the end of the line and Heidi stood close to Demetri. A lot closer than I'd ever seen her stand before. It looked almost intimate.

"Nessie!"

"Oh my god, Lia! Look at you!" Lia ran to me and we embraced in a hug. She had grown so much since the last time I'd seen her. She had gone from the size of an average five year old to an average ten to eleven year old.

"I know. I've grown haven't I?" I nodded. I looked up to see everyone else.

"You all have." Dante, who was standing beside Demetri and Heidi, had grown like a weed. He looked like he could pass for an eighteen year old. He was almost as tall as Demetri and his hair had gotten thicker looking, though it remained cropped.

Amadora looked like she could pass for about fourteen now. Her blonde hair was longer than I remembered it being and her face still held it's shy, innocent features. She stood close to Afton and Chelsea, Afton keeping one of his hands on her shoulder while his other hand rested in Chelsea's.

Armando and Octavia still looked almost exactly the same. Armando's hair was cropped while Octavia's hair was growing longer, though it wasn't nearly as long as Amadora's or Lia's hair. They still looked pretty young compared to Dante and Amadora. They now looked like they were around thirteen years old.

"Why didn't you just call us?" I heard Carlisle say to them. Felix gave him a slightly rude look.

"And say what? 'Oh no, we're having an uprising of werewolves. See you over the holidays'?"

"Don't get snippy with him, Felix." Emmett said with the same rude tone. Then Lia let go of me and went to Felix. Felix never looked away from us, but as soon as Lia was close to him, he reached down and lifted her into his arms.

"I'm just saying, simply calling you wouldn't have done any good." Felix kept his tone harsh. Demetri intervened.

"We assumed you've already seen the news. This story's been on all over Europe. It seemed silly to call and tell you something you already know." Afton spoke next.

"We came here because we wanted to know what you plan to do about this." I looked around at everyone and saw the shock in their eyes. Daddy was the only one who didn't look surprised.

"Why should we do anything about it? This isn't our fault." Emmett's voice was loud and angry. Rosalie stood close to him to make sure he didn't jump any of them.

"As sick as Caius and Aro were, they did keep our world in check. Without them, vampires are defying what used to be the laws. And as you've plainly seen, werewolves are starting to make a comeback." Carlisle immediately responded to Demetri's words.

"But you killed all the werewolves. The few that did survive would have died by now simply from hunger or old age." They all held their head down in thoughtfulness. Alec spoke next.

"We know. We know we killed all of them. Caius was adamant of destroying all of them. If there were any left, they would all be dead by now."

"Then why are there suddenly so many werewolves in Europe? This is more than even when I was young." Carlisle kept himself composed. Jane spoke.

"This is more than there have ever been. There's no way this is just one werewolf left alive."

"It wasn't even a werewolf that attacked those people. It was an infected wolf. All of those you know for a fact you killed." Jane nodded at Alice.

"Yes, we do know that. The infected wolves all lived primarily in Romania and Serbia, so it wasn't hard to track down and kill them all." Carlisle's face turned from composed confusion to thoughtfulness.

"Do you think maybe a surviving werewolf might have bitten a wolf?" Afton shook his head before Carlisle could finish.

"Not possible. A werewolf would never leave something that small alive. And it would never get away and live. The damage it would have suffered would have killed it long before the virus could have any effect on it."

"Are we taking into account those people that were murdered in Lithuania?" I looked over and saw Jacob walking out of the forest in just his sweats as he spoke. I smiled and ran over to him and hugged him. He hugged me tightly and kissed the top of my head. Demetri was the one to answer that question.

"I wouldn't worry about that. It's nothing out of the ordinary."

"What about those girls that didn't have any intrusion scars but were still drained?"

"It doesn't matter. All the people involved in that have been cremated." Jacob shrugged.

"So have to twins undo it." Corin rolled his eyes.

"That's not what they do. They undo actions of inanimate objects. They can't bring people back to life." Jacob sighed and tightened his grip on me.

"Just a thought."

"And besides, what good would that do? Bringing them back won't tell us anything we don't already know."

"So you know what those things they were carrying were?" They all shook their heads.

"It's obvious that whatever it was is a parasite, but that's the only thing we know. Whatever those things were had been destroyed when the victims were cremated, so we can't study them or anything to learn more." Jane interrupted Demetri.

"Yeah, they were destroyed. It's not worth worrying about." After Jane spoke, I had a thought.

"Just a thought. What caused the virus in the first place?" They looked at me a little surprised. Corin answered my question.

"It's just a mutation of the normal rabies virus."

"So isn't it possible that maybe the mutation happened again?" Jane raised an eyebrow at me.

"In that many wolves?"

"In that many different countries at a time?" Alec questioned after Jane. I shrugged.

"It's possible. It's happened with lots of other things. They start in one place and they spread."

"Not that fast."

"All I'm saying is that maybe that's all this is. We need to figure out a way to kill them off without drawing any more attention to the matter than what's already there."

"And how do you plan to do that?" I felt Jacob shrugged.

"Poison them?" Everyone gave Jacob a weird look. "I don't see you coming up with a better idea." Daddy sighed and looked at Demetri.

"All we can do is do what we used to. Kill them off every chance we get." Felix gave daddy a semi glare.

"So you want us to handle it is what you're telling us?" Demetri looked at Felix.

"Calm down, Felix." Demetri looked at daddy. "We'll see what we can do. And we'll start looking for what might have caused this." Demetri looked at Jacob. "And we'll try to find the vampires who were responsible for the murders in Lithuania." Jacob smiled.

"Thanks. It wouldn't hurt to follow them." Felix shrugged.

"I suppose." Felix looked like he was about to leave, but Lia tried to keep Felix still.

"Daddy, we can't go yet. We just got here." Felix looked at Lia a moment and sighed.

"Alright, sweetheart. We'll stay a while." Lia smiled and ran over to me.

"Come on, Nessie. Let's play monopoly." I smiled and nodded my head. Jacob followed after me and Lia into the kitchen. Daddy brought the monopoly board and joined our game. Jacob sat next to me and watched us play. Meanwhile, Carlisle spoke with everyone else about what they should do. He also offered to give them phones to help keep in touch with us, but they said they'd use a payphone.

Once everyone agreed on what to do, Jacob said he would go and talk to his pack and let them know what was going on. I walked out to the backyard with him and tried to catch up to him. Jacob walked into the trees and to the creek and stopped there. When he stopped, he turned around to face me with an apologetic smile.

"I can't believe this is the first time in months since we've seen each other." I nodded.

"I can't either." Jacob nodded awkwardly and walked over to me and took me into his arms. I hugged him back.

"I'm sorry. We're only being cautious." I shook my head into my nook.

"I know. It's okay." Jacob breathed me in and kissed the top of my head. I breathed in his musky scent and smiled. "Can I ask you a favor though?"

"Ask me anything." I smiled and kissed my nook.

"Once you've filled everyone in on what's going on, could you stay with me?" Jacob was still a moment. "Please." Jacob was still a little longer, then he finally breathed again.

"Alright, Nessie. I'll come back." I hugged him tighter and he hugged me back.

"Thank you, Jacob." Jacob shook his head.

"Think nothing of it." He lifted me off the ground into his arms so I was looking into his eyes at his level with my feet dangling above the ground. Jacob gave me a sweet, loving kiss. "I love you, Nessie."

"I love you too, Jacob. So much." Jacob grinned my favorite grin.

"I'll be back as soon as I've told everyone what's going on." I smiled.

"Thanks Jacob." Jacob gave me one last loving smile before giving me another kiss.

The kiss lasted, but not long enough. Jacob's hands traveled up by back and neck and his fingers laced through my hair. I was beginning to get used to my hair. I still missed my long curly hair, but I knew I would get that back eventually. I took Jacob's bottom lip and sucked, earning me a smile and him doing the same to my top lip. Then he licked my lips and I opened to let him in again. Our tongues dueled and I felt like my head was spinning. It had been too long since we'd been together, and I wanted to savor the moment. One of Jacob's hands came out of my hair and started brushing and caressing my neck, making me tremble. I lifted my hands into his hair and massaged his scalp. After we were locked together for several minutes, Jacob pulled away and started kissing down my neck, then back up my neck and bit my earlobe gently. I sighed and earned another smile from him.

"I better go. We have the rest of the night for this." I smiled.

"Yeah. The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll be back." Jacob chuckled and placed me down on my feet.

"I love you. I'll be back in a few minutes." Jacob kissed me one last time.

"I love you too, Jacob." I said before he walked deeper into the forest and I heard him faze.

I walked back into the house and finished my game of monopoly with Lia and daddy. Lia mentioned that she liked what I did to my hair and I thanked her, not wanting to get into the details of that little mishap. As Jacob promised he would, he was back twenty minutes after he left and was sitting next to me watching me play monopoly. Eventually, Amadora, Armando, and Octavia were crowding around us watching us play. Armando and Octavia had a little spat about a game they'd played a while back, but Armando forgave Octavia moments after their tiff.

I stayed up with Lia and the others until two in the morning, not really caring that I had school the next day. There wasn't anything going on tomorrow that I wouldn't be able to just look up and study on the internet. Lia did eventually, reluctantly, agree to get back on the road. Felix promised to give her a whole bushel of green apples when they got home and he had her following him. Jacob took me back to the cottage and waited in my room for me to get ready for bed. When I was ready, I went to my room and Jacob was lying on my bed still in his sweats from earlier. I smiled and walked over to my bed and crawled in next to him. When we were both in bed, we pulled back the covers and brought them up over us. It was a little cramped on my twin bed, but it was okay.

"Do you think everything will be okay?" Jacob looked confused a moment, so I showed him the images from the news and our conversations with the former Volturi guard. Jacob's face became aware.

"I think so, Nessie. We just need to take this one step at a time." I smiled.

"If you say so." Jacob smiled back at me and gave me a quick kiss before he rested his chin on my head.

"I love you, Nessie. Get some sleep."

"You too Jacob. I love you too." I lifted my head and gave Jacob another sweet kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on my little nook and kissed him there once before my hands trailed up to his chest. I fell asleep in Jacob's warm arms, and every problem seemed to melt away.


	9. Plague

**Plague**

The news only got worse as the days went by. There were new reports daily about Nadezda and any other new werewolves that were out and about after being bitten on their way home or from work. More and more victims were escaping from the hospital or their other confinements. Demetri said that he and the others were doing everything they could to keep the numbers down, but when it came down to it, there were simply too many of them. They started investigating what could have caused this outbreak, while still killing off as many werewolves as possible.

But it seemed, no matter how many they managed to kill, the virus kept spreading. And they weren't any closer to finding out what caused this. Jacob and his pack were still out almost every night on patrol, either waiting for the former Volturi guards or anything else that might come up. Jacob would come to the house for updates and always gave me a kiss before he would go back on patrol, but it was lonely again. I started spending most of my time with Aida after school.

"Just out of curiosity, Nessie, what caused this little outbreak of werewolves." I shrugged. We were laying on Aida's bed next to each other, earphone in my left ear, earphone in her right ear, listening to her IPod when she asked.

"We don't know."

"There's a lot more nuclear power plants throughout Europe these days. Do you think that might be it?" I shook my head.

"No. The virus was a mutation that formed all on its own centuries ago. Nuclear power plants wouldn't be able to cause the exact same mutation. Besides, those chemicals wouldn't effect a virus. Nuclear waste causes tumors and cancers."

"So if anything, they would have killed the animals, not mutated them into man eaters?" I nodded.

"Exactly."

"Even so, the Czech Republic is a small country. How many nuclear power plants do they have?"

"So far, six. Dukovany 1-4 and Temelin 1 and 2. They plan to start construction on Temelin 3 in 2013."

"How far are those places from Prague?"

"Temelin is about seven hours south of Prague. Dukovany is all the way in northern Austria."

"In other words, far away from Prague where the whole thing started." I nodded.

"Exactly."

"But can't those fumes from the plant travel via weather?"

"Not enough to have this kind of effect."

"What caused the mutation in the first place?" I shrugged.

"No one knows. It just happened. It's kind of like how some people get cancer. It can be inherent or caused by inbreeding."

"But cancer is usually caused by someone's lifestyle. Like lung cancer on people who smoke." I sighed.

"And yet, you still smoke."

"It's relaxing, okay."

"There are plenty of other things that are relaxing that are better for your health."

"Well, I like smoking." I sighed.

"You can't say I never cared." She looked at me and smiled.

"And I love you for it, Nessie." We were silent for a while after that. We listened to more Korn and Slipknot for the rest of the afternoon. I left before Aida's mom served dinner. I told her my aunt and uncle wanted me home for dinner and left it at that.

When I got back that day, Jacob wasn't at the house. He was probably on patrol and wouldn't be around for another hour. When he did finally come by that day, he only stayed long enough to have daddy tell him that there was nothing more to report other than the virus was still spreading. Jacob left the house after giving me a quick peck and an I love you. That Friday, I went to Aida's house again. When we got to her house and went to her room, Aida decided to bring it up.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you've been coming over a lot." I shrugged.

"I know. I've just been lonely lately." She gave me a weird look.

"Not that you're not hott, Nessie, but you lack a vital piece of fuckable equipment." My eyes widened.

"That's not what I meant!!" She smiled.

"I know. I'm just messing with you." I sighed and took a seat at the edge of her black bed. I looked ahead and stared at her Slipknot poster. She sat next to me and patted my back. "So why are you lonely?"

"I told you. Jacob's been doing overtime on patrol again. I haven't seen him for longer than five minutes in a while." Aida sighed.

"So you're 'lonely'" I looked at her again.

"Why'd you say it like that?" She only smiled at me and didn't answer my question.

"Honestly, Nessie, I'm happy for you. I hope you two have been doing it safe." My eyes widened again. "Did you try the condoms from the nurse's office? You know, the purple brand they used in Juno? They really do make a guy's junk taste like pie."

"No, I haven't tried them!" Aida moved her finger back and forth in front of me in a lecturing manner.

"Nessie, Nessie, Nessie, if you don't protect yourself, you could catch something. You don't know who Jacob's been with. And worst of all, you could get pregnant! You can't take on a baby right now. Not to mention kids are annoying little fuckers."

"For your information, I do know where Jacob's been. He's never been with anyone. And we aren't having sex, so I don't have any diseases or pregnancies to worry about preventing that would require pie condoms." Her face became shocked.

"You two still aren't sleeping together?" I shook my head.

"No, we aren't. Though I hardly think that's any of your business."

"You two have been going out for a year or so now. How can you not have had sex?"

"Not every couple sleep together. Some wait until they're married, which is what Jacob and I are doing."

"Why?"

"Because Jacob and I want to wait. He doesn't want to risk getting me pregnant just yet and he wants our first time to be special."

"It doesn't matter when your first time is. It's special no matter when you do it."

"Not true. When you wait until your wedding night, you know you're giving yourself to the man you'll spend the rest of your life with."

"That's bullshit, Nessie. Do you know what the divorce rate in this country is? It's up to sixty percent, Nessie."

"That doesn't mean Jacob and I will get a divorce, cause we won't."

"That's what my mom said. Now look. My parents got divorced when I was four. And what makes that little story fucked up is that my parents got back together later on, but never remarried. Now my dad is fucking that Mrs. Stanley bitch and my mom is getting it on with Mr. Newton." My eyes widened.

"No." She nodded.

"Yes. My parents don't know that me and Coralline know. I'm surprised no one else knows about it either."

"You mean your parents are having affairs and Forks, Washington doesn't know about it?" She nodded.

"Amazing isn't it? They're just really careful about it. What's worse is that my parents still sleep together. They just like having other people on the side." I kept giving Aida a weird look. Eventually, she sighed. "I'm just saying, you don't always know you're giving yourself away to your one and only partner anymore. Shit happens. So why the fuck wait until marriage?"

"Because we want to."

"We, or you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm asking if it's really a unanimous decision or was this your idea?" I sighed.

"If you must know, it was Jacob's idea. I'm open to sleeping together but he wanted to wait, so I agreed we should wait." Her eyes widened.

"Wait, Jacob, the man, suggested you two wait?" I nodded.

"I don't know why you think it's so weird. He has his priorities in order."

"Yeah, and is obviously either gay, or suffering from the blue balls." I swatted Aida over the head.

"Jacob is most certainly not gay!"

"Fine, he has blue balls then."

"Okay, you're done. You're done." Aida rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying. It's not often a guy would suggest that you wait to have sex. It's against their productive nature."

"Not all men think about just sex." Aida laughed condescendingly.

"Oh, Nessie. You're such a cute little virgin. No wonder men like you so much. To them, you're a delicate flower just waiting to be plucked."

"Well no one's plucking me. Only Jacob." She smiled.

"That's so sweet."

"You act as if you've slept around." She shook her head.

"No. Just two people total. My boyfriend and his friend and I had a three way for my last birthday." I had a gag reflex.

"Did I really need to know that?"

"Don't get mad at me. You're the one that brought it up." I sighed and dropped the subject. For all I knew, she'd start describing her sex life in detail and I wasn't in the mood. More so than usual anyway.

I left her house before her mother started dinner and got back home before six that night. When I got home, everyone was watching the news. It had become their permanent pastime these days. It was starting to feel a little repetitive. The news would say the virus spread again and start giving precautionary tips. Today, the news was saying that the virus covered Europe and had reached China and the Middle East and Greece. They predicted that if current trends continue, which they would, the virus would reach Korea, Vietnam, Liam, and so on within the next week and would be in India by the week following that. And Africa was deemed the country that would most likely suffer the heaviest losses considering all the problems, health wise that they already have. So far, only the island countries and North and South America remained safe.

The news also reported that people all over the world have been forced into lockdown in the hopes to stop the disease from spreading. The US Army, Navy, and Air Force are working with other countries to help keep the beasts at bay. Scientist from Europe and Asia as well as some of America's most brilliant doctors have been assembled in New York in the hopes of finding a cure. Carlisle was asked to go, but turned down the invitation. He knew there wasn't a cure for this disease. He didn't want to waste his, or anyone else's time pretending there was. It was far too debilitating to one's body and brain to have any hope of being cured. As Emmett had put it, 'if you get bit by a werewolf, you're pretty much fucked'.

We had no idea how this could be stopped or who would stop it. The former Volturi guard weren't having any luck at all. If anything, they were making Rome, Venice, and Florence the three most werewolf free cities in Europe. Even so, there were too many to kill off. And they were still no closer to finding out who was responsible. Alice couldn't see what they were doing, and it was spreading way too fast. This had been going on for about four months when the news announced that the wolves had managed to infect most of Africa.

A few lucky survivors were hiding out in Egypt, Nigeria, Libya, Ethiopia, and South Africa, but there weren't a lot from what news reports could show. The news reporters said that the chances of survival for all the smaller villages in Africa were slim to none. The only reason Egypt was doing so well was because of Amun and his coven. Benjamin and Tia had started moving down Africa, but their efforts had little to no effect. Amun was kind enough, though reluctant I might add, to call all his friends throughout Africa to help stop the spread of the virus. But once again, it wasn't doing much good.

It had even gotten to the point where soldiers would kill anyone who was bitten or looked like they'd been bitten, no questions asked. It was pushing the end of my sophomore year, and we still weren't any closer to stopping this than we were in the beginning. One day, I was over at Aida's house and she asked me a question I wasn't prepared to answer.

"Nessie?"

"Yeah, Aida?" When she spoke, for the first time since I'd met her, her voice sounded nervous and uncomfortable.

"What happens if those things somehow make it to the European island countries and North and South America?"

I froze a moment when she asked that. I honestly didn't know. Carlisle didn't even know what we would do. None of our other friends in Europe or anywhere else were able to kill them off successfully. What chance did we have? It wasn't even that they were too strong for us. There were too many to kill. Our only hope would be to kill them off while they were still in small numbers, but even that hasn't seemed to work.

"Nessie?" Aida took me out of my trance and I looked at her.

"I don't know what we'll do Aida. I just hope we never have to worry about that."

"But what if you do?" I shrugged again.

"I don't know."

I hadn't felt right since that conversation with Aida. I was actually beginning to feel scared. I'd never really fought another vampire let alone a werewolf. Daddy wasn't even able to think of a way to make me feel better. No one could. Everyone was just as nervous as I was. Carlisle was the only one of us that had any experience fighting werewolves, and he'd only fought one once when he was going through Germany.

It was now near the end of my sophomore year. We had two months left in the school year when a councilor at school told me that with my grades, I could graduate from high school as a junior if I wanted to. All I could say was I'd talk to my parents and talk to her about it the next day. Everyone was ecstatic when I told them about it, but I knew they were more concerned about what was going on. I didn't even have time to tell Jacob. He came to the house, asked daddy if there was anything else, daddy told him what was on the news that day, then Jacob left after giving me a quick peck.

When Jacob left that night, I was furious. I'd tried to talk to him about it, but he'd left before I even had a chance to. I went straight home and went to bed, not wanting to talk to anyone. I'd wanted to ask what he thought I should do, but without his opinion, I just made the decision myself. The next day, I told Madison and Aida that I'd decided to go ahead and graduate early. Aida didn't look that surprised to hear about it, but she was still sad. Madison was crying and everything. My councilor was happy with my choice and started helping me choose a schedule for next year.

When my new schedule was printed out, I finished the rest of my day and got home quickly after school to show the new schedule to everyone who was interested. Momma and daddy were proud to see that I was able to get into an Advanced Calculus class. Daddy was upset that I didn't try to get into the National Honor's Society, but I simply didn't want to. That was a society that required not only exceptional grades, it also required that I be a part of an after school activity of some kind and that I be involved with planning prom and other dances. It was something I simply didn't have time for. Not to mention I hated most of the NHS kids. A lot of them, not all of course, but a lot of them didn't earn their spot honorably. Not to mention a lot of them felt they were entitled. I've met too many people that had openly cheated on their Physics test and the teachers never found out.

When I showed everyone my new schedule, I went straight home to do my homework. Normally I did my homework at the house, but I wanted to be alone for a while. I was still a little aggravated with Jacob.

It took a few hours that day for me to finish all my homework, but I still finished in two hours. When I was done, I started reading Taming of the Shrew. I heard Jacob run past the cottage, but I ignored it. He was just going to ask what was going on, then he'd go back to the woods. Several minutes passed and I hadn't heard footsteps leaving the house. I heard something that sounded like human footsteps. They were really faint. I assumed it was either momma or daddy.

I ignored the sound of someone entering the house too. I ignored it until whoever it was opened my door. I looked up and saw Jacob, in his usual sweats, open my door and walk into my room, closing the door behind him. He knew closing the door would never make a difference if momma and daddy were here to hear what we were talking about. It was more out of habit. When the door was closed, he walked to where I was sitting on my bed and took a seat at the edge across from me. I looked at him and he scooted on the bed to get closer to me. When he was sitting close enough to me, he put his hand on my knee and gave me a quick kiss.

"Emmett said you're mad at me."

"He did, did he?" He nodded. He gave me a guilty smile.

"I know you're mad that we haven't been spending time together. Everyone's mad at me about it. Kim's mad at me, Alyssa's mad at me, Claire's openly mad at me, my sister's mad at me, and now you're mad at me."

"Jacob, it's more than just us not having any time together." Jacob's eyes became even more guilty looking.

"What did I do?" I sighed.

"Remember yesterday when I told you I had something I wanted to talk to you about. You said it needed to wait and walked out." Jacob breathed out a breath he'd been holding in.

"I'm sorry." His face became a little hopeful. "You can talk to me now." I shook my head.

"There isn't much to talk about anymore." Jacob shook his head in response and took both my hands in his.

"Tell me anyway." He gave me his loving smile, and I couldn't help but smile back a little.

"Alright. Yesterday, my councilor told me I could graduate early if I wanted to." He didn't look the least bit surprised. In fact, he looked as if he already knew.

"I could have told you that. You're smarter than most kids your age." He chuckled. "You're a hell of a lot smarter than me, that's for sure."

"Still, I wanted to talk to you about it. I wanted to talk about what it would change." He looked at me a little confused.

"What do you mean, 'what would it change'?" I sighed. I took both my hands and held onto Jacobs. I started rubbing my thumb gently on his knuckles.

"Well, Jacob, I would be graduating as a junior." Jacob nodded.

"Yes."

"So what does that mean about us?" Jacob still looked confused.

"What does it have to do with us." I took a deep breath and sighed.

"Does my graduating early mean….you know…….that we'd be getting married sooner?" Jacob's eyes finally became aware.

"Oh." His response made me feel a little nervous.

"You do want to get married right?" He looked surprised by my question and was nodding his head.

"Of course I want to get married. I just don't think we should get married so soon." My eyes widened.

"Why?" Jacob sighed.

"Nessie, you're smart enough to get into any college you want, become anything you want. I don't want you to throw that away by us getting married too soon. You deserve better than that." I looked at Jacob a moment before I finally said anything.

"It's not like I'll be going out of state. I could always go to Seattle."

"And there's nothing wrong with that school. I just don't want you to disregard out of state schools. I mean, Nessie, you could probably get accepted into an IV League school without even trying."

"But that would mean going far away. I don't want to go that far away."

"I would visit every chance I got. It would be as if I lived next door. And you could always call me."

I was silent a moment. Then Jacob sighed and moved closer to me. He wrapped his arms around me and brought me into his lap. When I was secure in his lap, Jacob gave me a sweet kiss. That kiss, I realized, was just what I needed. For so long, I'd only received a little peck from him and he'd be off again. This kiss was more passionate. His lips moved over mine sensually and lovingly. I copied all his movements to add to the kiss.

I ran my tongue along his bottom lip and he opened, as did I. When both our mouths opened, our tongues touched and started exploring the others mouth. My hands trailed up his chest and neck until my fingers were laced through his hair. His right hand trailed up into my hair and his left hand rested itself on my thigh. I started trembling from the contact. I bit Jacob's lip gently in response and he groaned lightly.

Then Jacob did something I wasn't expecting. He lifted me into his arms so he could rest his knee on my bed. When his knee was there, he let us fall until my back was on my bed and he was on top of me, both his arms still wrapped around me. My arms were now wrapped around his neck and I was hugging him closer to me as we kissed. Jacob was resting on his hip so as not to crush into my hip and I was trying to move so I would face his on my side. When I was finally there, Jacob started sucking on my bottom lip and I sucked on his top lip. He even bit down gently and let his hand travel down to my hip and squeeze gently. When he squeezed my hip, I forced my tongue between his lips again to deepen the kiss. I felt Jacob smile as he let his hand travel to my butt and squeeze gently again. After that, he took his lips away from mine and kissed my nose. I made a small noise in my throat that resembled a whine and he smiled.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been around much lately. And I'm sorry I didn't stay to listen to what you wanted to tell me." I nodded.

"I know. I know why you're doing all this. It just upsets me is all." Jacob gave me his guilty smile again. "Do you know when things will go back to normal again?" Jacob shrugged.

"I wish I did. I want it to be over so badly. I want to have free time with you again." Jacob's face suddenly lit up after he said that. "How about when this is finally all over, you and I go somewhere far away just to be together? I don't even care where we go. Mexico, South America, hell, the Bermuda Triangle if you want, as long as we're together." I smiled and kissed him.

"That would be wonderful Jacob." He smiled at me with his winning smile. It was my favorite smile that showed all his white teeth that almost seemed to shine. Then he gave me one more quick kiss.

"So you're graduating next year, we've established that we'll get married after you finish college and we'll be taking a nice trip to wherever after this is all over. Anything else you can think of that I forgot?" I smiled and giggled.

"No. That about covers it."

"Good." He gave me one more loving kiss that melted my bones before he forced himself off my bed. "I'm sorry to have to say this, but I need to get back on patrol. I'll see you tomorrow, okay." I nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jacob."

"I love you, Renesmee. Always remember that." I smiled and nodded again.

"I love you too, Jacob. With all I am."

He smiled and I even saw a small blush. Then he walked out of my room and I heard him faze when he was outside the house. He got my attention again by lightly tapping his paw on my window. When he had my attention, I opened the window for him. I was about to ask what was wrong, but he silenced me by licking my check. I giggled and wiped away the drool. He chuckled in his deep wolfy laugh and I gave him a kiss on the nose and between the eyes as I scratched behind his ears for a moment. When that was done, he licked me one last time and then ran back into the woods to go back on patrol with Seth and the others.

Later that week, though, we received really bad news from the former Volturi guard. But not before hearing it on the news of course. It was all over the place. Somehow, someway, the virus had made its way to Japan, The Philippines, and every other island country in Asia. For a moment after seeing it on the news, for the first time in my short life, Carlisle was completely speechless. Even Emmett was nervous now. It couldn't even be rationalized that they somehow made it to Japan because it wasn't too far away from mainland Korea. Japan was too far away for a werewolf to swim. And the Philippines were a whole other matter. And, of course, when Demetri called, he told us that the virus had made it to England, Scotland, Ireland and Sicily. All those countries were now under extreme lockdown. No one was coming in and no one was coming out. No exceptions.

Then something came up on the news that was extremely bizarre and mortifying even. A reporter from Russia announced that scientist found the Chukchi, the Indians of Russia, had been found completely erased. There were so few left to begin with. And now, their tribe was found buried under layers and layers of snow completely mutilated beyond the point of recognition. Their reindeer suffered the same fate.

"My god." Carlisle said. Daddy finished Carlisle's thought.

"They're almost at the water's edge of Russia."

"This can't be happening. Their coats aren't nearly thick enough to ensure their survival that far north into Russia. It's too cold for most any animal that wasn't designed to live there."

Carlisle seemed to be struggling to keep his voice calm. Emmett and Jasper were beyond words at this point. The virus was so close to home and it was suddenly a possibility that the virus would somehow make it into North America. Once North America was infected, that was it for the western hemisphere. Jacob was in the room with us hearing this new development.

"Don't worry. I'll have my pack on patrol at all times that we can. There will never not be a wolf on patrol." Carlisle shook his head.

"That's the thing, Jacob. I don't know if you and your pack alone can stand against this many werewolves. They're not very smart creatures needless to say. They rely singularly on brute force and power. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. But it is when you have so many facing off against you. And we don't know how long it will take for them to get here if they do."

"Harry Clearwater. He had a bomb shelter made at his house sometime in the nineties. That alone will protect more than half of the Quileute reservation. And I know the convenience store on the reservation has a lockdown chamber for when someone robs the store. That would be able to hold everyone else."

"Jacob, it won't be that simple. So far, our only hope is that these creatures starve themselves to death, which is incredibly unlikely because they can just feed on woodland animals like they would were they real wolves. Realistically, it would be a good two hundred years before these creatures were really on the verge of death."

"Maybe. But what other options do we have, Carlisle? You're telling me that our chances of being able to fight these things off are minimal to nothing. Should I just let everyone I know die?" Carlisle shook his head.

"You know that's not what I mean Jacob."

"What about the hospital? That could be a good place to hold everyone. It has all the previsions that one would need and access to medical supplies when needed."

"We wouldn't be able to fit everyone in the hospital, Jacob. We're talking about inhabiting the entire town of Forks and the Quileute reservation."

"We should at least try. We can't shoot it down when it's really our only option." Carlisle took a deep unneeded breath and remained silent. Everyone looked at Carlisle to await his decision. Eventually, he finally nodded. "I'll go tell everyone what's going on. I'll tell Billy to have everyone prepared for the worst." Jacob looked at momma. "Bella." Momma stood up.

"Yes Jacob?"

"You do the same. Go to Forks and tell Charlie and the other officers to prepare everyone. Make there be a signal or something. Anything. Just tell him that if those things make it to the US and they reach Forks, that everyone needs to go to the hospital for complete lockdown." Momma nodded.

"I'll go do that now." Without a moment's hesitation, momma ran out of the house and drove away towards town in daddy's Volvo. But shortly after momma and Jacob left, daddy sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. Carlisle looked at daddy and groaned in aggravation. Esme stood by Carlisle and held onto his shoulder.

"What's wrong now, Edward?" Daddy looked at Carlisle.

"It won't be long before they get here." Everyone's eyes were on daddy now.

"What did you say?" Jasper said. Alice spoke.

"It's the Denalis. They decided to come here. They'll be on a plan to Washington within the next hour."

"Why are they coming?" Daddy answered with a solemn, forlorn voice.

"Because the wolves made it into Alaska." No one bothered widening their eyes. I think they figured it out themselves and had used up any feeling of shock. I was terrified. Daddy heard my fear and Jasper felt it. He started forcing relaxation on everyone in the hopes of calming us down. Daddy walked to me and took me in his arms in a hug. "It'll all be okay, sweetheart."

"What are we going to do, daddy?" Daddy shook his head.

"I don't know, Nessie. But you'll be okay. We'll all be okay. I won't let anything happen to you or your mother or anyone else. Do you understand, honey?" I nodded. He already knew my answer and he could hear all the doubt in my mind. But he didn't say a word about it.

"I'm going to go find Jacob." Daddy shook his head.

"I'll go. You stay here." I tried to argue, but daddy gave me his strict face. "I'll go, Nessie. You stay here." Daddy then let go of me and ran out of the house in the direction Jacob had left.

Needless to say, the pack was mortified by the news. I'd never seen Jacob and the others look so nervous. Jacob let us know that Billy, Quil Sr., and Sue were prepared to get everyone to the hospital when they got word from Jacob or any other pack members. Momma had told grandpa what was going on and he promised to have everyone ready to go to the hospital for hiding when Billy or Jacob gave him the okay to do it. It was inevitable that they would be here soon. There was no point in saying just in case anymore. When I'd gone to school, all the first period teachers told the students that there would be busses ready to take us to the hospital and that they would use the fire alarm to let us know when it was time to go.

The Denalis were at the house when I got back from school and they all looked nervous as ever. Jacob wasn't even stopping over to hear more about the situation anymore. He was staying on patrol as much as possible. He even took his two week vacation early for the sake of being able to be out all hour, every hour. I was waiting for Jacob to just plop and go to sleep. He said that he was fine, but I knew he wasn't. He did at least give the others day and night shifts. Jacob was the one that was taking all hours upon himself.

"Do you have any plans at all?" Tanya asked Carlisle.

"No, we don't. So far, all we know is that we're putting everyone in the hospital to be safe."

"And Demetri and the others don't know who or what caused the outbreak?" Carlisle shook his head.

"They're doing everything they can. That's all we can do."

"Carlisle." Daddy said. "They're here." Everyone looked at daddy.

"Who are here?"

"Demetri and the others. They're all here. They have something they want to show us. It's serious." Daddy's voice sounded really nervous and confused when he spoke. "They think they know someone who's involved in the outbreak." Carlisle's eyes became a little hopeful.

"They have? Who?" Daddy shook his head and started walking to the front door.

"They're outside the house. I think it would be best if they just showed us. And they brought two others with them."

When daddy reached the door, he opened the door and all the members of the former Volturi guard and their children came into the house. Lia ran over to me and hugged me. I hugged her back. Even Dante gave me a sort of half hearted hug. Armando didn't hug me, but that didn't surprise me. He was so to himself that he rarely spoke to anyone other than Corin and Octavia. Demetri went straight to the living room with Heidi and Felix following close behind him. What shocked me where the two people that followed in behind them. I saw Marcus walk in with his usual indifferent face. Next to him was a gorgeous woman with pasty dark olive skin and light brown hair. She had a face of aggravation and discomfort that sent a chill down my spine. When everyone was in the living room, Demetri began explaining.

"We stole this from a reporter in London." He put the tape in the VCR and pressed play. "Tell me what you see in this scene."

We watched the scene from the tape play on the plasma screen. It was a scene of people running from charging werewolves from an aerial view. You could see the side of the building that the reporter was on. Then the camera moved up and looked at the building across from them. Across from the reporter holding the camera on the building across from them, was a tall man with dark hair and pasty olive skin. Even from the angle of the camera, you could tell the man was handsome. He had a chiseled, masculine face and his hair was a grown out version of a crop cut. He wore a black vest with a white shirt that was dyed red from blood and a pair of black pants. At first glance one would think it was a modern outfit to be worn at prom or a wedding. But when I looked closely, I realized the outfit was distinctly nineteenth century and I could see the suspenders from the pants that were hiding under the vest. After a moment of the camera being centered on that man, he looked towards the camera, and I saw his scarlet eyes. Seconds after he looked at the camera, he was gone. Then, suddenly, the camera lens cracked at the picture was gone.

"You can't be serious." I looked at Carlisle when he said that. He looked surprised. Daddy looked aggravated. Esme was holding onto Carlisle trying to be soothing. I looked at daddy, and he sighed when he heard my mental question.

"It's Titus Valerius. Remember the vampire I told you about that fell in love with a human woman?" My eyes widened.

"I thought the Volturi killed him." Felix intervened. Marcus simply nodded.

"We did kill him. I ripped him limb from limb myself with my bare hands." Demetri gave Felix a look, then looked at me again.

"We killed him in Transylvania. We killed Nicoleta in Paris. What is certain is that we killed them both."

"Then please explain to me why Titus Valerius, the man you claimed to kill, is standing on a building in London healthy as a horse." Felix looked like he was about to get defensive, but Demetri stopped him and answered Carlisle calmly.

"We don't know, Carlisle. We just don't know. My guess is there was help from someone."

"In that case, why would they bring him back? What good would that do them?"

"I never said I had an explanation for it. I only came up with a plausible reason."

"But we don't know anyone that has the power to do that." Alice's face changed. It became a look of shock and putting everything together.

"Unless it's a half breed child." Everyone looked at Alice. Daddy didn't say anything about what she was thinking. I think he wanted to let everyone hear what she was thinking before he gave his input on it.

"What do you mean?" Demetri remained calm while Heidi looked concerned. Even Alec and Jane looked uncomfortable. Felix remained his usual annoyed self. It seemed, I noticed, that Lia was the only one to ever make that man happy.

"What if whoever's primarily responsible for this has a half breed? Or even if they have a person that they changed that has this power?" Everyone's faces became thoughtful.

"That's a possibility yes. It still doesn't explain why they would be doing what they're doing. It doesn't explain why they would unleash the werewolf virus onto the world again after we'd finally gotten it under control. A few more years and any surviving werewolves would be dead."

"Or they might not be connected at all." Heidi said to Demetri.

"Maybe, Heidi. But I say we don't eliminate it as a possibility. We need to be ready for just about anything." She nodded her head slightly in agreement and breathed out an unneeded breath. I looked at the woman standing quietly next to Marcus and asked daddy my silent question.

"That's Euphemia, Didyme's sister."

"Why is she here? I thought she hated Marcus." Daddy was about to answer, but Euphemia spoke first.

"I do hate Marcus. But I'm more concerned about the mutated beasts that are killing off most of my livestock." Her voice was hard and cold. Marcus simply rolled his eyes and said nothing.

"Even so, what does that have to do with us?" Carlisle asked. Euphemia gave him a look of death.

"Because you're the ones responsible for the death of the Volturi, who, by the way, would have never let this sort of thing happen. As far as I'm concerned, all of you are partially responsible and hence are the ones that should fix this." Carlisle looked at her surprised.

"We didn't kill the Volturi. That was Vladimir and Stefan. If you have to fight someone, fight them."

"Why do that when your coven is so much easier to find?" Marcus rolled his eyes again and decided he'd had enough. He walked over to Euphemia and put his hand on her shoulder. She immediately forced his hand back.

"I realize that you're a bitter old harpy, Euphemia, but don't bring that out on others." Euphemia became angered and glared at Marcus. We all watched in awe to see what would happen. It wasn't often Marcus would get angry enough to intervene.

"You have some nerve saying something like that to me."

"You have some nerve blaming me for Didyme's death. So there, we're even." Euphemia walked the last few inches between her and Marcus and didn't stop until their noses almost touched. When she was close enough, he voice was practically a hiss.

"You took my sister away from me, you heathen. If she'd never met you, never fell in love with you, nothing bad would have ever happened to her."

"You can't say that surely."

"Of course I can. It was Aro's fault she ran into the trouble she did." Marcus looked surprised.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about, Marcus oh wise one, is that Aro hired those slayers to kill Didyme. He knew you and she were planning to leave, so he wanted to be rid of her. Of course, if she'd never been with you, that never would have happened." Marcus looked surprised. It was the first time I'd ever seen him look taken off guard.

"How would you know something like that?"

"How could you not know that?" Daddy came into the conversation.

"You don't know that, Euphemia. I never heard it in Aro's thoughts."

"Well, doesn't that make you the smartest boob on legs?" Daddy gave Euphemia a glaring look and she looked back at Carlisle. "I'm here because I want whatever is wrong to be fixed. And I expect it to be fixed by the ones that put this whole thing in motion. I don't care what happens to any of you, as long as I can hunt freely again without having to share with a mangy beast." Daddy chuckled under his breath at something someone was thinking.

"Being a mangy beast yourself, you shouldn't have a problem, now should you." Everyone held back a laugh at Felix' comment. Even Marcus was forcing back a smile. He then rolled his eyes at the angry look in Euphemia's face.

"I know you and I never got along, Euphemia. But must you make mine and everyone else's life so difficult?" Euphemia kept the same angry glare and pointed it at Marcus. She walked to him about to pass him, but stopped when she was standing at his side.

"I stop when you give my sister back to me. If I have to be miserable, by all mighty Zeus, so do the rest of you." With that, Euphemia walked past Marcus and went into the music room where our piano was and she started playing. All the music she played had Greek undertones. I looked and saw that Lia left my side and went to Felix. She held onto his shirt hoping for protection.

"She's scary, daddy. I don't like her." Felix smiled and lifted Lia into his arms.

"Don't worry about it, Lia. Nobody likes her."

After that little spat in the living room, daddy went out to the woods to look for Jacob and tell him about this new development. I was sure it wasn't something that Jacob would really deem all that important, but I asked daddy to tell him anyway. More bad news came a few days later. Not only had the virus seemed to make its way into southern Canada near Washington, but Nahuel and his whole coven came to our house to tell us that the Virus made it to Argentina. That shocked us more than anything. I did at least get to meet Marcelo's new baby sister.

After the serious talk was done, I walked over to Yaretzi and Rafael to see their daughter. She already looked like a seven year old girl. It surprised me even knowing that she was more vampire than human. But she was adorable. Like Marcelo, she looked so much like Rafael. She had his nose and ears, but she had her mother's brown eyes, tan skin, and dark hair. She had a shining smile like Marcelo and seemed to have the same beam of confidence as Marcelo too. When I reached Yaretzi and Rafael, they all smiled at me.

"I see you had another baby." Yaretzi's face lit up.

"Yes. This is Ada-Maria." Rafael smiled.

"It was my younger sister's name."

"That's so sweet." I looked at Ada-Maria and smiled at her. "How are you doing?" She giggled and smiled. Her giggle was a deeper sound, closer to her father's voice, only much more feminine and youthful.

"I'm doing alright. Marcelo told me a lot about you." I smiled.

"Did he? What has he said?" Marcelo took Ada-Maria into his arms and patted her back.

"That's enough of that, Ada. Let's go do something that isn't talking to Renesmee." Then Marcelo took her to the living room where the TV was and found Ada-Maria an episode of House to watch.

Lia and Ada-Maria were fast friends. And Ada-Maria took a great liking to me too. They helped me keep my mind off the situation a little by playing board games and watching Invader Zim and House. Jacob didn't get to talk to Ada-Maria for very long before he went back on patrol, but daddy said he liked her a lot more than Marcelo. I think that might be because she doesn't hit on me. I found out that Marcelo was a little sore with me for telling Yaretzi that she and Rafael should have another child. But in the end, he wasn't really that mad at me. I could tell he loved that girl to death. Euphemia was hardly seen the whole time she was at the house. She was always either in the music room playing the piano or out hunting. Marcus was always in Carlisle's library reading, also not talking to anyone.

A few days later, I came home from school and I heard some odd sounds coming from the backyard of the house. It sounded like an odd combination of a scream and a roar. I rushed out of my car and towards the backyard where I was hearing the loud noise. When I reached the backyard, everyone was standing around in a circle around whatever was making the sound. Jacob looked over at me and walked to me before I could reach what everyone was staring at. I managed to get a glimpse of what looked like a thin ball of hair. When Jacob was right in front of me, he took a hold of my shoulders and made me look at him.

"Nessie, I don't want you near that thing. We were just barely able to contain it." I looked over Jacob's shoulder to try and get a better look. But everyone had closed the gap where Jacob had stood.

"Is it…?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. It followed me here. Me and the others killed the other seven that were with that one. But this one ran away and then followed me." I froze a little more.

"They reached Forks?" Jacob brought me closer to him in a loving, reassuring hug.

"I've already talked to Billy and Charlie. Everyone's at the Hospital as planned. So far, we've only found eight total, including the one over there. We're all ready for when more start to come." I smiled nervously at Jacob, but stayed more or less frozen.

"I'm not going to lie, Jacob. I'm scared." He tried to smile reassuringly at me.

"I know, Nessie. I know." He lifted me up to his level and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear. "I won't let anything happen to you, Nessie. You know that." I nodded into his shoulder.

"Yeah. I know." I brought my head up from his shoulder and looked at him. "Can I see it?" Jacob gave me a cautious look.

"I don't know, Nessie." I smiled at him.

"Please? I'm curious." He sighed and rolled his eyes teasingly.

"Alright. But I'm holding you the whole time." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"Alright. If you insist." Jacob gave me one last sweet smile before he turned around to walk towards the circle. Even Euphemia and Marcus were standing around the creature looking at it. Though Marcus wasn't shocked by it. His expression, like Demetri's and the other Volturi Guards, was expectant and almost bored and routine.

He loosened his grip on me enough so that I was able to look over my shoulder comfortably. Jacob took a spot between daddy and Emmett, who were still looking at the creature that was making all the noise. When I saw it, it was tied up with what looked like several feet of steel rope. It was attempting to move around, but wasn't having a lot of luck. It was covered in hair, with slightly longer brown hair at the scalp. It looked like there were some ripped clothes on it and it had nails longer than any New Yorker housewife's acrylic nails. It's eyes were a chilling, sickly yellow and had a face mutated to look closer to that of a small muzzled fox or dog instead of a human.

"Shouldn't we kill it?" Felix was the one to answer me.

"We will. We just wanted to extract some blood for Carlisle to look at. We're hoping that might give us some clues as to the cause of the outbreak." When Felix was done talking, I looked back at the werewolf.

It was frightening to look at. It was squirming and moving around violently trying to get out of its confinement. Luckily, it wasn't strong enough to break through steel covering its whole body. Its face was what scared me the most. It looked like an odd combination of pain, anger, and sadness all mixed into one face. I couldn't help but feel bad for the creature. This was a person that once had every opportunity to do whatever it wanted in life, only to have it taken away from them by a monstrous, debilitating disease.

A glance was all I needed before Jacob took me away and moved me to the house. When we got in, Carlisle was coming down the stairs with a vile of what looked like blood and an annoyed look on his face. Jacob let me down and I walked the short distance over to Carlisle. He looked up at me and smiled a little when he saw me.

"Felix said you were looking at the blood for possible abnormalities?" Carlisle nodded. "Any luck?" Then he shook his head.

"There's nothing unusual about it. It's the same as any other werewolf from any given point in time. The virus looks exactly the same as it did more than a century ago."

"So what does that mean for us?" Carlisle shrugged at Jacob's question.

"It could mean this was sudden, which I personally find highly unlikely, or someone really is responsible for causing it."

"How? Finding a surviving werewolf and have it bite a bunch of wolves or something?" Carlisle shrugged again.

"I wouldn't think so, but I suppose it's possible. From the way I see it, the spreading of the virus was far too fast to have started with one wolf biting a bunch of normal wolves. It spread way too quickly. And the numbers got way too high."

"But if they didn't do it that way, then how else could they do it?" Carlisle, again, shrugged, but this time, it was so minimal, human eyes would never be able to notice it.

"I don't know, Jacob. None of us know anything. Alice can't see any changes in our lives other than the wolves." Jacob looked surprised.

"I thought Alice couldn't see werewolves." Carlisle nodded.

"She can't see you and your pack, Jacob, because you're something more than human. Werewolves are, technically, still human. They simply don't look or act like they normally would and have immune systems that can keep them alive for at least a century. She can't see them as clearly as she would a vampire, but she can see them."

Carlisle walked past us and into the backyard where everyone was still standing around the werewolf. Carlisle told Felix and the others what his findings were. Felix, being Felix, was furious that Carlisle didn't see anything we could use. Demetri simply told Felix to calm down and shut up and they all killed the werewolf. They were able to kill the beast simply by taking it by the neck and twisting it's spine. I heard a loud, deafening crack from the bone and the creature fell to the ground limp as a noodle.

Shortly thereafter, Seth came charging to the house. Daddy already knew exactly what was going on when Seth was only a few meters away from the house.

"Carlisle, there's more coming!" Carlisle looked at daddy.

"Already?" Daddy nodded and Carlisle looked around the circle. "All the children go inside, now! The rest of us will stay out here and kill off as many as we can manage!"

Everyone nodded and spread out around the house facing the woods where Seth had come. The other members of Jacob's pack flooded in as fast as they could and were taking position near us. Jacob told me to stay inside and he locked the doors before he ran to where everyone was and fazed and took his place at the front of the line of wolves. Me and all the other children were practically stuck to the glass as we waiting. Dante and Marcelo were the only youths out there. Demetri trusted Dante and was confident that he'd been trained well, which he had been. Felix, of course, refused to allow Lia anywhere near the beasts. She was in the house watching with me and all the other younger kids.

After moments of anticipation, the first of the wolves came through the trees with a piercing scream/blood retching roar. Felix was the first one to run around the creature and hop onto its back and break its neck with a loud crack. Not seconds after he killed that werewolf, he was charging for the next ones. Everyone followed Felix and attacked the werewolves that seemed to flood into my backyard. We heard screams and roars sound through the yard and into the house. I could hear Jacob's roar distinctly as a werewolf attempted to run to the house and leap to the door. He caught hold of the werewolf at mid height and threw it to the ground and put his paws on its head and back and twisted them in opposite directions to crack its head.

The fight lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. I looked at the clock and realized it had been five minutes. My eyes widened and I kept looking outside. Carlisle had already warned Jacob and the others that the virus was in the saliva and the blood, so Jacob and his pack were careful not to bite or be bitten by the werewolves. It was a good ten minutes of fighting before daddy killed the last of the werewolves. Halfway through the battle, he began looking extremely annoyed, and it wasn't because of the werewolves. I finally knew why that was when the last werewolf was dead and I started hearing clapping in the background. It was from two sets of hands.

Without thinking, I opened the double French doors of the house and started walking onto the porch and towards everyone. Lia and Ada-Maria were following close behind me as I walked out. Octavia had a tight grip on Armando's arm and Amadora was standing close to me, but not clutching onto me. She started approaching Afton and Chelsea. Afton took her hand and held her behind him when she reached him. When we were close enough, Lia ran straight to Felix, who threw Lia onto his back. He didn't let go of Lia until she had a good grip on him. Ada-Maria went to Rafael and Yaretzi, not breaking her way through them, but grabbing a hold of Rafael's arm hoping for protection. I went to where momma, daddy, and Jacob were standing, watching and listening. I took a spot between Jacob and daddy, but Jacob was putting forth some effort to keep me out of eyeshot of whatever or whoever was coming. This all happened in a matter of seconds. Not even seconds. When we were all near our parents, Carlisle asked his question in his mind and daddy answered.

"It's Stefan and Vladimir." Carlisle pinched the bridge of his nose, and Felix hissed.

"I should have known." Daddy continued after Felix' little comment.

"They have company." Everyone looked at daddy surprised.

"Who?" Demetri asked. But before daddy could answer, Stefan and Vladimir made their appearance. Following close behind them were five other vampires. One of the five was a child. I looked at him and the two people he was near. Oddly enough, he looked like both of them, but he had a beating heart. I was very confused. Daddy didn't say anything.

To Vladimir and Stefan's left were two vampires. One was a man who I recognized from the tape Demetri had showed us. He was the man with dark hair and pasty olive skin and looked like a chiseled sculpture of a god with scarlet eyes and a handsome black vest and now a red shirt and black pants. Next to him was a woman I'd never seen before. She was beautiful and had long silky hair that shined even with the clouds overhead. Her skin was pale, but with the slightest hint of formerly olive toned skin and a sweet, almost childlike loving face. She was holding onto the man's arm like a lifeline. And, like the man she was holding onto, her eyes were a fierce scarlet red.

To Vladimir and Stefan's right, there were three. One as a man that I slightly recognized. I saw his picture on the news so many months ago. He had dark brown hair and pasty white skin and the same scarlet eyes. He wasn't as handsome as the other man, but he was beautiful still. His face was masculine and his jaw was square and manly. He seemed to have a lot of muscle on him. The woman standing next to him also looked familiar. She had short pixie like hair. Shorter than even Alice's hair. It was a hair cut modified to look better than the one she was forced to have while in the concentration camp. But her face was hateful and cold, despite its beauty. She had a very feminine face with the same pixie shaped face that fit her haircut flawlessly. Both women were wearing leggings, a short skirt that flowed a little, beautiful green and pink stiletto heels and a tight fitting shirt. The woman with long hair had a sweet little shirt that tied a small bow at the side and hugged her curves beautifully. The other woman's hips were slightly wider and her shirt was a dark blue color. I assumed she was Niele and the man beside her was Mykolas. I already knew the other man was Titus Valerius. I wondered if that meant the other woman was Nicoleta. Finally, they both stopped clapping after a few seconds and Vladimir began talking.

"You always were fighters, Former Volturi Guard." Then he looked at Carlisle. "I'm sure you're confused as to why we're here. With the exception of Edward of course." They both chuckled to themselves. The others remained quiet. The boy standing next to Niele looked bored out of his mind. Stefan continued.

"And look what we have here." They all followed where Stefan was looking. They were looking at Marcus and Euphemia. "Marcus of the Volturi. And this must be Euphemia, your mate's sister." Euphemia and Marcus remained quiet. Vladimir looked at Carlisle again.

"You said you would explain why you're here." Vladimir smiled at Carlisle and nodded.

"Indeed I did." Vladimir cleared his throat unnecessarily and continued to grin his evil grin. "Well, Carlisle, I was hoping that you and your coven would be willing to join mine. You would certainly be an asset." Carlisle ignored his question and asked his own.

"What do you have to do with these werewolves?" Vladimir and Stefan chuckled together and Stefan answered.

"It surprises me that you figured it out, though I'm sure Edward already told you at some point." He looked at the little boy that was standing next to Niele and motioned for him to come forward. He walked over to Stefan and Vladimir and Niele and Mykolas followed closely behind. "This is little Antanas. Mykolas and Niele's son."

"Their son?" Felix asked. Daddy explained.

"It took a lot of experimenting to get it right. They tried simple artificial insemination, but that produced no more than a fertilized egg that was no better than a parasite that couldn't grow into a child. But they figured out a way to have both their DNA in the child so it was technically theirs, but it's still half human."

I looked at Rosalie when daddy said that. Her face looked shocked, and unusually hopeful. I knew Rosalie wanted a child more than anything and she wanted that child with Emmett. I hated admitting the truth, but I knew she'd be willing to kill anyone to have that. Daddy put his hand on my shoulder to get back my attention.

"Indeed, Edward. You've got to love science. Especially when it gives you a child with such a useful gift." Carlisle made a questioning face and daddy answered his question.

"He can bring back the dead." There was a moment of silence on our part. Antanas didn't say anything or change the boredom in his face. He looked no older than five years old, so his boredom was understandable. Niele had an evil, proud smile on her face and Mykolas only looked proud. Titus was glaring subtly at the former Volturi guard. Especially Felix. Nicoleta was avoiding eye contact with them. Stefan broke the silence.

"He was the one that brought back the werewolf virus. It was accidental at first, but Vladimir and I thought about it and decided it was a good idea to use the werewolves to follow through with what we wanted to do."

"And that was what?" Carlisle's voice was harsh, but composed. Titus answered the question.

"They want to revert the world to the way it was when they were in power." Felix and the others looked at them like they were insane. Daddy was still pinching his nose, almost in embarrassment.

"Why?" Felix' voice was condescending when he said that.

"Because we didn't have to hide from humans. We're stronger than humans, smarter, faster, more clever, last longer than humans and they're not nearly strong enough to fight against us even with their most creative of inventions. Why should we be scared of them? Why should we have to hide?" Stefan continued.

"We shouldn't. And when we ruled, we didn't. We didn't care what the other vampires in the world were doing as long as their actions didn't go against our power. Why live under the Volturi who force you to go by their rules, when you could be under our rule and be free to be vampires?"

"And you plan to do that by killing off most of our livestock?" Felix said with the same condescending voice.

"Plenty of humans are still alive. You've seen Europe. It's like a wasteland because everyone's locked up in a bomb shelter. I noticed you stuffed everyone in the hospital. Clever." Vladimir continued.

"But plenty of humans are still alive. And once we rid ourselves of a large amount of the population, it will be the same small number that it was when we ruled. And with this little werewolf epidemic, they'll know how strong we are and fear us like they did before." Felix was only getting more agitated.

"Really? What about all those werewolves you made. You can't expect humans to live with that many werewolves roaming free. How do you plan to deal with that?" Stefan smiled and daddy pinched his nose again.

"Well, you see, Felix, Antanas was the one that brought the virus back. He can choose to get rid of it as easily as he made it. When we've infested the entire world, we'll take it away again. No harm done." Carlisle's eyes widened.

"No harm done? How can you say that?" Stefan smirked while Vladimir answered Carlisle's question.

"Carlisle, you know humans are quick to reproduce. And there's still plenty of humans that survived the Rise of the Lycans as I've most commonly heard it called." He chuckled a little under his breath. I heard Jacob start to growl lightly.

"And you expect my coven to join yours?" Carlisle's voice let Stefan and Vladimir know how ridiculous it was that they would even ask. Titus intervened.

"Let's just leave now. If they don't want to be a part of it, then there's no point in trying to force them." Stefan and Vladimir looked at Titus with the same proud expressions.

"Please, Titus, let us handle this." Titus rolled his eyes after Vladimir and Stefan returned their attention to us and said nothing more. "I know this is something that's new to you, Carlisle. But we could really use your coven." Stefan continued.

"You have so many strong gifts on your side. We simply want your help to keep our coven safe. We don't want what happened before to ever happen again. And it would make our day, Demetri, if you and the rest of the Former Volturi Guard would join us." Demetri's answering tone was calm, but like a spear. I heard Felix growl under his breath. Everyone else remained silent and watchful.

"You know we won't Vladimir. We spent centuries under the control of two power hungry vampires and a statue." Marcus looked at Demetri with a little sneer on his face at Demetri's comment. Euphemia laughed a little to herself. "We don't plan to put ourselves under the control of another set of power hungry vampires." Daddy continued.

"And as far as we're concerned, we aren't joining you. We just want to live our lives. All you want is power. As it is, your only allies are here because they feel they owe you." I heard Titus chuckled under his breath and everyone looked at him.

"You two were right. He is good." Nicoleta smiled lightly at his comment and seemed to hold onto him tighter. Instead of being offended, Vladimir and Stefan smiled.

"When we're right, we're right." They then looked at us again. Vladimir continued. "We helped Mykolas and Niele have the child they always wanted. We brought back Titus and gave him his love back." Vladimir took Antanas by the shoulders and placed him in front facing us. "What can we do for you that would change your minds?" Carlisle raised his voice slightly.

"You can't buy our loyalty, Vladimir. Especially when you have mal intentions." Stefan smiled and looked at Rosalie.

"Not even for a child?" Rosalie's eyes became guilty. Emmett looked at her, then looked at Stefan.

"Don't mock my wife, you son of a bitch." Stefan shook his head.

"Rest assured, I wasn't mocking her. As you can plainly see by looking at little Antanas, it can be done. Granted it's incredibly time consuming for a doctor, but it can be done." Then Stefan looked at Marcus and Euphemia. "And what if we were to bring back Didyme?" Both Marcus and Euphemia became wide eyed.

"You would do that?" Euphemia's voice was calm and hopeful.

"Of course. You and your sister had powerful gifts. We could use those. And I know Marcus would love to have his mate back." He lost Euphemia with that simple sentence. Marcus remained silent. He seemed to be contemplating agreeing.

"And you can't say that you and Bella never thought about having another child, Edward." Daddy's face became annoyed.

"I think that's hardly any of your business." Vladimir rose an eyebrow.

"No need to get defensive Edward. I was simply offering you something you might like." Titus spoke again.

"Vladimir, you can't bribe people into joining you. It's not ethical."

"And why not?"

"Because if someone joins your coven for any other reason besides respect for you, they'll turn on you in a heartbeat." Stefan spoke next.

"Is that to say that you would dare do such a thing?" Titus shrugged indifferently.

"As a matter of fact, yes I would." At those words, Stefan and Vladimir looked surprised. Titus sighed. "I've been friends with you two for a long time. And I've helped you two through so much, though. And I won't lie, it's beginning to annoy me." Nicoleta gave him a subtle look of disbelief, but said nothing. I moved closer to daddy.

"What was that look for?" I whispered in daddy's ear. He whispered into my ear.

"Nicoleta remembers him complaining about it a lot is all." I nodded and turned back to the conversation.

"So we helped you for nothing?"

"You weren't the ones that helped me. Antanas brought Nicoleta back, not you. I've helped you through a lot and all you've done was force a child of a bitter shrew and her mate to bring me and Nicoleta back." Niele glared at him and Nicoleta. Nicoleta was looking at Titus the whole time.

"You forget that this boy can easily take the life we gave you away." Titus gave Vladimir a wicked smile and chuckled lightly.

"A fact I already knew of. But then I had a thought." Daddy shook his head in what seemed like awe.

"This man really does think of everything." The statement was more to himself, but Titus looked at daddy with a smile.

"Thank you, Edward. That's very kind of you to say." Then Titus looked at Vladimir and Stefan again. "Just for the hell of it, I decided to perform a little experiment. I killed two rabbits and asked little Antanas to bring them both back to life. One rabbit, I injected with my venom, the other rabbit I injected with his venom."

"What's your point?" Stefan's tone was impatient. Titus continued to smirk.

"My point is, when I asked him to take the lives of the rabbits back, he could only do so with the rabbit that was injected with his own venom." Vladimir and Stefan's eyes widened at the realization. "In other words, anything that has been bitten by him and carries his venom in their veins can't be killed so easily by him. And seeing as Nicoleta and I have been ingested with his venom," He showed the little scar on his and Nicoleta's arm, "that little boy can no longer kill us."

"That doesn't mean we can't still kill you ourselves." Niele looked furious when she spoke. She looked at him with a searing stare.

"I dare you to try, Niele. But be warned, I won't let your petty need for revenge against the word slow me down."

"How dare you call me petty?!" Niele looked like she would charge at Titus, but Mykolas held her back. Titus shook his head as if he were critiquing the actions of a child.

"I won't deny what happened to you was a great shame. Your two sons and husband were murdered right before your eyes and you were thrown in the fire and left to die. But that hardly gives you the right to inflict your hatred and bitterness onto others." Niele's face became consumed with furry.

"How dare you judge me? What would you know about what I've been through?!"

"You act as if you were the only Jew to ever be executed and tortured unfairly." Niele looked appalled. Titus continued despite the evil look on her face. "Plenty of Jews survived that genocidal time. Some of them wrote books about their experience, some of them forgave the world for what had happened. But you won't let it go, will you? You blame everyone for what happened to you and now you're taking advantage of Vladimir and Stefan's greed to have your revenge."

"I have every right to blame the world! It's all their faults. My husband's death, the death of my two sons, all of it!!! A woman in the camp sold me out, told the guards I'd been pregnant and had a baby. That filthy whore. The Nazi soldiers enjoyed sexual favors from her quite often. She was jealous of the happiness I had with my son.

"I saw to her death too. The Nazis killed her, but I was sure to make her last few hours gruesome. I ripped out her tongue, her nose, her breast, her feminine organs, and her ears. I was sure to let her keep her eyes just so she would know what a monstrosity she was!

"The Nazis killed her, 'Because she could not work.'" She said the last thing with an exaggerated German accent. "The Nazis never should have came to be. They never should have existed!! And yet they did. All because all the while, Hitler was ignoring the orders of the treaty of Versailles and England, France, and America were too busy with their heads up their ass to stop it!!" She walked a little closer to Titus, but Mykolas kept a firm hold on her. "I want the world to suffer as I have suffered. Knowing that their actions from years ago, figuratively and literally, created a monster."

I felt a chill go down my spine the whole time she was talking. I instinctively backed away behind Jacob. I could still see what was going on, but I would be able to hold onto Jacob if something went wrong. I noticed Lia was clutching onto Felix like a lifeline. He was only too happy to hold her closer to him in a protective manner. Dante and the other children remained calm and composed, though I noticed Amadora move a lot closer to Afton. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively and Chelsea moved closer to Afton to increase the protection for Amadora. Heidi moved closer, yet again, to Demetri. I suddenly wondered if those two were mates now, but now wasn't the time to bring it up.

"As I said. Petty." She hissed at Titus.

"Don't you judge me! I've been through more than you can ever imagine." When she said that, Titus became angry and rose his voice to a yell.

"You're not the only one who's ever suffered!!! I've been hunted by human after human. I've been ripped apart and forced away from my love and later find out, when I was brought back, that my efforts were in vain because the Volturi found and killed her just when she was so close to making it on the boat to America! I've experienced pain, so don't act like you're the only one!!!" Nicoleta moved back slightly from Titus as he yelled. We all did. His voice, though still deep and beautiful and accented, was like a roar to the sky and it was frightening. Niele moved back a bit in shock and fear.

"Titus." He then looked at Nicoleta, who gave him a pleading face. He then sighed and brushed her face lovingly.

"I'm sorry you have to see that my love. It will never happen again." She smiled and pressed her head to his shoulder. He looked at Niele and the others with a critical look again. "I say let the boy live. He never did anything but do what he was told." Then he looked at us. His face was almost pleading, but it was so subtle that I would have never guessed until he spoke next. "I see that Vladimir and Stefan have caused you several problems over the years. They've caused us all a lot of problems."

"What the hell are you doing Titus?!" Titus completely ignored them and continued his little speech.

"I can only imagine how much trouble Niele and her mate and son will be in the future, so I must advice that you rid yourselves of them too while you still have the chance." Without warning, Stefan sprinted for Titus with his teeth bared and about to strike. We started to come forward to help him, but he didn't need it.

When Stefan was only a foot away from him, Titus grabbed onto Stefan's neck and twisted his hand in a fashion that made Stefan's neck twist and snap. He fell limp to the ground, but looked to already be healing.

"Stefan!!" Vladimir's voice was loud and that of a man that lost his dearest friend. He then charged for Titus, but met the same fate. Both Vladimir and Stefan laid on the ground limp but healing. Everyone, even the former Volturi, stared wide eyed as they watched the scene take place. When both vampires were on the ground, Titus pulled something out and lit them both on fire. The smell was potent and it filled the air like a fire. Titus saw the look on our faces and chuckled.

"You don't honestly think the Volturi invented this do you?" What he was holding was a little thing that blasted fire. It did it so fast that human eyes would never see the fire move from handle to victim. I recognized it as a thing that Caius used to burn Irina.

Niele and Mykolas backed away from him but didn't leave. There was a mysterious block of solid air behind them, keeping them where they were. Antanas was outside of that confinement and he looked scared now. Titus looked over at us to see who was causing the shield and smiled when he saw Amadora in her concentration. He nodded at her respectfully and turned his attention back to Niele and Mykolas. Nicoleta stood close behind Titus but no longer had her arms around him in any way.

"I think it's only fair to let the Cullens decide what to do with you two. I'd rather not stay and watch a massacre." He had one more cruel chuckle, then walked to Nicoleta and took her hand. Then he looked at us with a serious, charming face. "Give them hell, Cullens." With that, he and Nicoleta were off and away. Antanas looked after them, then looked at us again. He looked terrified.

"We won't hurt you Antanas." Daddy said to the little boy.

"Nor will you hurt my parents."

"We have to kill them. If we don't they'll only pull this little stunt again. And we can't have that." Felix said with a cruel stab to his voice. Niele banged on the solid air around her and screamed.

"Mark my words, if you lay a hand on my baby!!!" Jane glared at her and did her worst. In seconds, Niele was on the ground screaming about the pain in her head. Antanas and Mykolas stared at her with concern.

"Stop it!" Antanas' voice was pleading. Jane looked at Carlisle and he nodded his head. She rolled her eyes and took the pain away. Niele recovered and stood back up. "What do you want? I'll bring back anyone you ask. Just let us go."

"If we let you go, then we'll just be setting ourselves up for the worst again." He shook his head.

"I promise. Never again. You know those werewolves?" He closed his eyes and looked like he was concentrating. Then we heard howling screams in the background and sudden silence. He kept his eyes closed for a little longer, then opened them again. "There. They're all gone. All the ones that were brought back and created from them are gone. Dead. Every last one." Alec spoke now.

"That's all well and good, young man. But that doesn't change what you've done." Marcus held up his hand in front of him and looked at the boy.

"You say you can bring back the dead." Antanas looked hopeful and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Then you would be able to bring back my mate." Antanas nodded his head eagerly.

"As if she were never dead. And Titus said giving her my venom undoes my power, so I can do that for her too. Anything. Just please let my parents live." Then he looked at Rosalie. :You want a child, have it your way." She looked at him confused.

"Don't tease me, boy." Antanas shook his head.

"I'm not teasing. My parents know how the doctors did it. They could explain the process to you and you and your mate could have a child. Together no less. That's what I am. I'm Mykolas and Niele's biological son. The son of two vampires that conceived me long after they were changed. You can have your own." Rosalie's face looked guilty again. She was honestly considering it, also knowing that a human would be killed if she and Emmett went through with it. Daddy spoke.

"You're being cruel, Antanas. You're giving a woman false hopes." He shook his head.

"It's not false hopes." Marcus stopped them.

"Euphemia and I will take the boy and his family. We will decide what to do with them." Then he looked at Antanas again. "I want my Didyme back. I will take you to Serbia where she was killed. I expect nothing but the best results. If I get her back, I will let you and your parents live. If not…..you know the rest." Euphemia looked at the boy.

"I want my sister back. And I want her to be what she was. Whether or not you all live depends on the mindset you leave me in. In other words, you don't annoy me, you live, you piss me off even for a moment, and you all die. Is that perfectly clear?" Antanas nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. Yes sir." Marcus looked at us again.

"I will let you know what we decide. Until then, it was nice to see all of you again. Take care." Marcus left us with a small, barely noticeable smile and then walked to the little boy and pressed his hand gently on his back as he led the way. Amadora let down her shield and Euphemia took hold of Niele and Mykolas and dragged them with her in the same direction.

"We must be really lucky." I heard Alice say. I heard Jasper chuckle lightly and I heard Emmett comment.

"Luckiest sons of bitches ever." I felt a wave of relief pass over everyone as we finally relaxed. I heard Jacob and the other pack members start to howl with joy that they could finally go back to their normal lives. Momma gave daddy a kiss and left to make her way to the hospital to tell everyone the good news and that, after a week and a half of lockdown, they were free to come out.

Everyone looked joyful and relieved. But Rosalie looked thoughtful. I assumed she was thinking about what Antanas said. I was surprised daddy wasn't saying anything about it. Instead, he hugged me tightly, kissed the top of my head, and said that it was finally over. When daddy let go of me, Jacob licked my cheek and barked what I assumed was the same remark. I smiled and agreed with him as I scratched the back of his ears.

Everyone went home that day. I said goodbye to Lia and Ada-Maria, even though I didn't want to. They were so sweet and I rarely got to see Lia. It was hard to say goodbye to them. When everyone left the house, I noticed a collective relaxation amongst everyone that I hadn't seen in almost a year. We turned on the news and saw a news reporter from Seattle explain with glee that the wolves were finally gone. It was deemed the end of infection and the start of a new era. What had been called by many, Rise of the Lycans, The Infection, Epidemic, and Judgment Day was finally over.

Jacob fazed back and asked me to come with him to the cottage. Daddy didn't say anything, so I went with him back to the cottage. When we got there, Jacob told me to get ready for bed. I wasn't sure why he wanted me to seeing as it was only five in the afternoon, but I did so without a word. When I came back to my room, Jacob was sitting on my bed waiting for me in his sweats and his longer hair. With all the commotion, Alice hadn't had a chance to cut it in a long time, so his hair was below his shoulder by now. When I reached the bed, I sat down next to him and looked at him seriously.

"Do you think Euphemia will let them live?" Jacob shrugged.

"I personally doubt it. She was such a sadist. Niele isn't much better either. It won't take much from her to piss off Euphemia and put the nail in all their coffins." I sighed and looked at my feet.

"I'm just glad she's gone. She was worse than the Grinch." Jacob laughed without humor.

"Please. The Grinch was a Philanthropist compared to that bitch." I looked at Jacob with a teasing smile and he laughed at himself. "I won't apologize for calling her what she is."

"I never said you should." He smiled and reached over to kiss me.

The kiss was long and sweet. A kiss I hadn't had in a while. I brought my hands to his neck and tried pulling him closer to me. Instead, Jacob fell back onto my bed and brought me with him. Our lips never parted as we fell. When he was on his back, I crawled up his chest to be closer to him and let my legs straddle his waist and brought my arms around his neck. As we kissed, Jacob's hands traveled along my back, neck and into my hair while my hands threaded through his hair.

Jacob licked my lips and I let him in to explore. I did everything he did to me. I tried sucking on his tongue and he groaned a little. He also bucked a little, which filled me with pride like no other. He tried the same on me and I squeaked a moan. Then his tongue tickled the roof of my mouth and I started to giggle. But our lips still never parted. Jacob turned us over and left me on under him. He let his full weight rest on me, but lifted himself enough that he wasn't crushing me. My legs kept straddling him and kept him secure where he was. U was breathing in Jacob's scent the whole time we kissed. It had a strong hint of dead leaves that wasn't there before. All the time in the woods didn't hinder his musky scent, though. I could still breath him in and taste his woodsy taste.

One of Jacob's hands trailed down my neck and rubbed my arm. Then his hand brushed my breast lightly and the touch made me shiver. His hand kept going down further as we kissed until it reached the hem of my long sleeved sweater. When his hand was there, he lifted the hem and brought his hand under my shirt. I felt myself blush as I realized what he was doing. The thought occurred to me that I should stop him, but I didn't want to. Jacob started sucking my lip and I moaned and did the same. His hand kept trailing up until he reached the wire of my bra. When it was there, his hand covered my breast and rubbed my nipple. I moaned again and held onto him tighter. I started reaching down until I got to the band of his sweats and I was about to pull on them, but once again, Jacob stopped me. He ended our kiss and took his hands away and brought my hands up above my head. He looked dazed and gave me an apologetic look.

"Sorry. It really has been a while." I nodded.

"Yes, it has. And frankly, you started to annoy me with all this teasing." Jacob chuckled and kissed my nose.

"I know. That was my fault. I couldn't stop once I started. What you just did was a little snap of reality for me." I sighed.

"So it would gone further if I'd never reached for that?" Jacob chuckled.

"I'd like to say I would have gained control before anything happened." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Sure, Jacob. Sure." He kept smiling at me and kissed me. I kissed him back. He took his lips from mine again when I licked his bottom lip.

" It was wrong of me to encourage you, I'll admit that." Then he rolled off me until he was laying on his side looking at me. I turned to look at him. He gave me a loving smile. "I believe I owe you a trip to anywhere." I giggled and nodded.

"Indeed you do." He smiled.

"Where would you like to go?" I thought about it for a moment. Jacob waited patiently as I thought. After a few minutes, I looked at him.

"I don't know, yet. But I'll think of something soon. In the mean time," I moved closer to Jacob, "let's make up for lost time." Jacob chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully at me.

"I missed you too Nessie." I gave him one last loving smile before I crushed my lips to his again. We laid in my bed for hours just kissing and talking about how relieved we were and how happy we were to finally have some time together. No one came to the cottage to bother us. It was just me and Jacob. Just the way I had been yearning for it to be.

"I love you Jacob." He smiled.

"I love you too Nessie. With all that I am." I smiled at him with tears in my eyes that I refused to let out and brought my lips back to his in a searing, endless kiss.


	10. Consideration

**Consideration**

**EPOV**

It was over. After almost a year of watching the news and worrying and not knowing what to do, it was finally over. We all felt a sense of joy like no other to finally know what had caused it and to have it be stopped one way or another. Nessie and Jacob were especially happy to finally be able to spend time together after almost a year of no more than a peck on the lips and an I love you.

But there was still a problem. A problem that would most likely be harder than the epidemic we suffered. That little kid, Antanas, was half vampire, half human. And yet both his biological parents were vampires. After all these years of desperately wanting a child, there was finally a way to do it, and we couldn't do it.

Rosalie loved Nessie, that was certain. She taught that girl how to maintain a car and a love of shoes. But the fact of the matter was she wasn't hers. Nessie was Bella's. It didn't bother her nearly as much because Bella was at least human when she was pregnant with her. But to have Antanas' story told to her was like a slap in the face. We knew, there was no way Carlisle would ever agree to help us because that would mean a human's life. And Edward would never tell us how to do it ourselves. Though I'm sure that arrogant know-it-all, Titus, would know how it was done.

After the encounter, while everyone was celebrating, Rosalie had gone straight to our room with a look of guilt I'd never seen on her before. I didn't like that she felt ashamed. She shouldn't have to feel ashamed for wanting a child. I knew she wished we were human and that we could have had five kids and lots of grandkids and great grandkids by now. She wished we could grow old and grey and have more of a purpose in life than just sucking blood and being admired by what should be our prey.

"Emmett." I heard Edward call me from the living room. I didn't bother going in there. I didn't need to be in there for us to hear each other. "You need to talk to Rosalie."

"No shit, Edward." I could feel Edward rolling his eyes.

"Just quit your damn soliloquizing and talk to her." I sighed. He heard my mental question and answered me. "Frankly, Emmett, I don't feel good about telling you guys how it's done. I know Rosalie and she would have no problem killing someone just so she could be a mother."

"And you know I would never deny her that joy."

"You don't even want kids."

"I knew there was no point in it because it wasn't possible. Now it is."

"At the expense of an innocent human life. And don't pretend you don't care."

"If one human has to die so that my wife can be happy, then I'll gladly let it happen."

"You would. But Carlisle wouldn't."

I decided to end the conversation there. Talking to Edward would be like trying to teach Paris Hilton the alphabet. It just wasn't worth the time and energy, as limitless as my time and energy was. I walked up the stairs to our room and was cautious about coming it. I wasn't sure how upset Rosalie was. I hadn't seen her exact facial expression. I knocked on the door gently at first and didn't get a response. I tried again and still didn't get a response, so I let myself in.

When I walked in, Rosalie was standing next to the window staring outside in a manner that looked absentminded. Her face looked blank now and she wasn't acknowledging me. I walked to her slowly, giving her plenty of chance to tell me that she would rather be alone. But all the while, she never said a word. After a moment, I was standing right behind her and she still hadn't said anything. I put my hands on her shoulders, making sure it was okay to touch her right now. When she didn't react or even flinch, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and gently pulled her against my chest and I kissed her head. She kept looking outside a little longer without a word, so I stayed quiet, too. There really wasn't anything I could say that would make her feel better, and I hated knowing that. Several minutes went by before she finally said something, and it made my heart twist in pain to hear her say it.

"Why?" I didn't need to ask what she meant. I already knew. "The one thing in life that I really want, and it's thrown in my face that I really can't have it."

"I know. I'm sorry, Rosalie." She turned around to face me then.

"They won't help us." She looked like she was in pain. I hated seeing her like this. It hurt all the more to have to respond the way I did.

"No. They won't."

"Maybe if we figured out a way for the girl to live through it and not become a vampire, do you think Carlisle would help us?" I shook my head.

"I doubt it. He'd never risk it." She started shaking her head, almost like she was trying to force another reality.

"There has to be a way. You heard what they said. It's just a matter of finding a male sperm donor and a surrogate mother."

"The surrogate mother is the whole issue."

"I know." I held her closer to me trying to comfort her, but she didn't loosen up. She remained extremely tense no matter how much I rubbed her back and tried to calm her down. Then she pushed away from me slightly so she could look at me. "Maybe we should talk to Carlisle. There has to be another way to do it. As long as the child has room and nutrients to grow, that should be enough. Maybe there's a way to skip the surrogate mother."

"How would we be able to? How would the child grow without a human mother?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. But maybe Carlisle could think of a way." I wasn't too sure about the idea. How a child could grow outside a woman's womb was beyond me. And I doubted that modern medicine have ever had a reason to attempt it. Rosalie shook me once. "Let's at least talk to Carlisle about it. Please, Emmett."

Her eyes were pleading when she said that. It was a look that hurt me more than being changed. I wanted there to be a way for this to work. I wanted it so badly, all to make Rosalie happy. She waited for my answer. She didn't tell me to make a decision. She gave me time to think of what might be the best solution and how it would affect us. Finally, I nodded my head.

"Alright. We'll talk to Carlisle. There has to be some way to do this." For the first time in a long time, I saw her smile.

"Thank you, Emmett."

Without another word, she took my hand in hers and pulled me with her out of our room and towards Carlisle's study where he and Esme were. Rosalie wasn't even worried about interrupting a private moment between them. When we got to the study, Rosalie was about to let herself in, but she heard Carlisle and Esme, as did I, and knocked on the door. I could hear Carlisle's grunt of annoyance when she knocked. He would never let us see it when we walked in, of course. Seconds later, Carlisle told us to come in. We let ourselves into the study and saw Esme standing next to Carlisle behind his desk and Carlisle straightening out his shirt.

"Can't a man have a moment alone with his wife without being interrupted?" Rosalie went straight to their desk and got to business without a single sorry.

"I want to talk to you Carlisle. It's important."

"If it has anything to do with that boy, Antanas, than I don't want to hear it. I'm sorry, Rosalie, but I'm not willing to kill an innocent human just so you can have your thrill of being a mother."

"It's not a thrill Carlisle." My tone of voice surprised us both. "You know how much Rosalie's always wanted a child. Becoming barren wasn't exactly something she wanted." Carlisle sighed.

"And Esme did? She tried for years to have a child only to have all her pregnancies, except for one, fail because of abuse. And the child that did survive died of SIDS. At least Rosalie never had to go through a pain like that." Esme looked down with a sad face thinking about that. Rosalie kept going.

"But maybe we could figure out a way to skip the surrogate mother all together." Carlisle was silent a moment before talking.

"Rosalie, that's impossible. A growing fetus needs nutrients and warmth and all sorts of things that only a mother's womb could provide. There's no telling what kind of problems would arise if we attempted something like that." I suddenly heard Edward and Bella enter the room. Carlisle looked over at them and motioned for them to come in.

"Even so, it might be possible for the mother to live."

"How?"

"Keep a close watch on her, perform a C-section as soon as her water breaks, anything."

"We did that with Bella and she almost died." I looked over at Edward and glared. He shrugged. "Getting mad at me, Emmett, doesn't make it any less true."

"You're not being very helpful, Edward." He shrugged again.

"I didn't know I was supposed to be." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, blow it out your ass, Eddie." Edward punched me over the head. When he spoke, his voice was cold and hard.

"Don't call me that. So help me God, I will light you on fire if you call me that."

"That's enough, both of you." Carlisle's tone was harsher than usual. After Edward and I were quiet a moment, Carlisle continued. "Look, Rosalie, I understand that you want a child. But I can't, in good conscience, give you a child at the expense of a human life. And it's not possible to have a child without a mother. I'm sorry, Rosalie, but it's just not possible."

"What if we found someone who was willing?" Carlisle gave Rosalie a weird look.

"And how, may I ask, would you find a human willing to risk their lives so you can have a child?" I responded with the first thing that came to my head.

"Suicide Hotline?" Everyone except Edward looked at me with a look of slight to extreme disgust. Edward sounded like he was trying not to laugh. "What?! Can you think of another way to find someone that willing to die?"

"That's a hotline for people that are trying to get help."

"Well, some of them don't want help to begin with, so there." Everyone kept giving me a weird look for a minute. It was an awkward feeling that I was happy to see the end of when Rosalie looked at Carlisle and spoke.

"There are women who apply at hospitals to be surrogate mothers. If we paid enough and let them know the risks, I can't imagine not being able to find at least one person willing to do it."

"Rosalie, I doubt very seriously that any woman in her right mind would answer to an add that said, 'need a surrogate mother, possibility of death during pregnancy'."

"We could always wait for someone that's either stupid enough or desperate enough for money to not care about the risks."

"Good luck finding someone like that, you two."

"What if we did?" Carlisle looked at me with a serious look. Rosalie was looking at me with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "What if we found someone that was willing to carry our child knowing the risks involved? Would you help us?"

In truth, I'd expected Carlisle to immediately say no. But he actually thought about it for a minute, or at least looked like he was thinking about it. His face was thoughtful and Edward looked surprised by whatever he was thinking. We waited patiently as Carlisle thought about it. Esme was looking at him just as intently and hopefully as we were. It was several minutes before he said a word. When he did, he sounded reluctant.

"Fine. If you two can find a woman that is willing to do this for you knowing the risks involved, then I'll help you. But she has to know exactly what she's getting into. I mean it. If there's a single thing she doesn't know about, I won't do it until she agrees that it's alright. Are we completely clear on that?" I nodded my head while Rosalie walked around the desk and hugged Carlisle.

"Thank you, Carlisle, thank you. You have no idea how happy you just made me."

"Yes he does." I looked at Edward and mentally told him to shut up. Edward shrugged and didn't say anything more. Rosalie let go of Carlisle at last and she had an almost blinding glow to her smile. It made me smile to see her so happy.

"Do you think you might be able to give us multiples?" Carlisle gave Rosalie a stern look.

"Rosalie, I just agreed to risk a human life to give you one child. Don't push your luck." She sighed.

"We can talk to her about it later."

"You speak as if you already have someone in mind." Rosalie shook her head, but she still had a big smile on her face.

"Not yet. But I will. I don't care how long we have to wait. I'll find someone." She gave Carlisle one last hug then walked around the desk to me and took my hand in hers. She pulled me with her out of the office and down the stairs.

"So where should we apply to?"

"Everywhere. I plan to apply to every hospital in Washington, Canada, Oregon, and Idaho. We'll be bound to find someone with that many hospitals having our application."

"Will they even advertise us if they know the surrogate mother is risking her life?"

"I don't care. We'll find someone, Emmett. I don't care what it takes. We'll find someone."

Several hours after that was spent applying to hospitals all over British Colombia, Washington, and the states surrounding Washington. At the end of the day, we'd applied to over five hundred hospitals. Rosalie was eager to find a girl and find one soon. We offered four times as much money than any of the other applicants not including medical. That was something all its own.

"How long do you think it will be before someone answers?"

"However long it takes." She smiled at me hopefully and she smiled back. She kissed me then. It was a passionate kiss that I gladly returned. When our lips parted, she looked on the verge of tears, possible or not. "I'm so happy, Emmett. We might finally have a child." I smiled at her.

"I was never able to promise you a child before, Rosalie. Now that I can, I'll do anything to make sure you have one."

"I love you, Emmett."

"I love you too, Rosalie." We kissed again after that. And the rest of the afternoon and night was spent in our room, showing her how much I loved her.

We waited a little longer than I think Rosalie would have wanted, but she didn't complain. Nessie and Jacob found the idea a little strange when they first heard it, but Nessie warmed up to the idea relatively quickly. It was Jacob who wasn't so hot for the idea. That alone was an unneeded argument that lasted a lot longer than I would have liked. He thought Rosalie and I having a child was too risky. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of watching a human die because of us. Nessie was sweet enough to talk Jacob into being okay with it. Or as okay with it as was possible. He said that he and his pack wouldn't do anything. But if the girl died or was bitten, he and the pack would be obligated to take action. Nessie worked hard to soften Jacob up to the idea, but there was only so much even she could do.

Weeks went by with no response. I was beginning to get worried that it would end up being years before someone finally agreed to take on having our child. But while Jacob and Nessie were on their little romantic trip, we finally got an answer. Rosalie was bouncing on her seat with excitement, which was something she never usually did. Alice looked at the ad and was more than happy to go and get the woman. She would be staying with us until the baby was born and she received her compensation.

"We found someone, Emmett. We really found someone." I smiled and nodded.

"What's her name?" She smiled wider at the name of the woman that would give Rosalie the child she always wanted and deserved.

"Morgan Karen."


	11. In The Windy City

**In The Windy City**

**NPOV**

Jacob and I were on our way to the airport. As he promised, we were going to have a trip together to wherever I wanted. I picked a place that I thought would be perfect for us. I chose to go to Chicago. It was a great place to visit and had a lot of great sights and museums.

(Not to mention that's where Greenpeach lives. Awesome city, Chicago. Definitely visit if you ever get the chance).

Also, I really wanted to go down the Magnificent Mile. Alice said nothing but good things about it and I knew for a fact they had a virtually unlimited selection of shoe stores. When I told Jacob that part, he just rolled his eyes at me and smiled. He was looking forward to going to one of the many museums and the Shedd Aquarium. It was going to be a four hour flight and daddy was nice enough to buy our tickets, once I convinced Jacob to shut up and take daddy's offer. We were going to be sitting in first class. Despite his initial rejection to daddy paying for our tickets, Jacob was looking forward to first class. He'd never been in first class before. He said he planned on getting Champaign, just because he could.

But on the way to the airport, Jacob was a little nervous about what Rosalie and Emmett were about to do. It wasn't that he was trying to be an ass or anything. He was just trying to keep the safety of others in mind as well as the treaty. I figured, Jacob being the rightful chief and all, he could bend the rules for them. Jacob just gave me a weird look and said there were only so many times he could bend the rules.

"Jacob, I know this isn't one of your favorite ideas of ours, but Rosalie really wants a baby. And frankly, I think she deserves it." Jacob sighed.

"Nessie, I understand that she wants a kid. I understand that opportunity was stolen from her and I realize that having the possibility slap her in the face is really unfair, which I agree it is. But that girl is almost guaranteed to die if she does this. How can I sit back and pretend that doesn't bother me?"

"Carlisle will make sure she'll be okay. She'll be under his constant watch and if anything happens, he'll be right there ready to help her."

"That's how it was with Bella. Carlisle never let her out of his sight. He watched her, monitored her, and did everything he could to make sure she'd live through it. But the fact of the matter is, the only reason Bella lived was because Edward changed her."

"But now Carlisle knows what to expect. And he's more prepared for anything that could go wrong than he was with momma. Have a little faith in Carlisle's expertise."

"It's not Carlisle's expertise I doubt. What I doubt is that whoever agrees to do this won't live through it. And not to be rude, but what woman in her right mind would agree to carry a child when they've been clearly warned that carrying that child is likely to kill them? Their only hope is that some woman will only look at the compensation, or they're flat out too stupid to realize the kind of trouble they're getting themselves into."

"I doubt she'll be stupid, Jacob." Jacob shrugged.

"Watch, Nessie. There will be a woman that will agree to do this and it will all blow up in Rosalie's and Emmett's face because she either didn't read the Ad other than the money she'd get, or she'll be one of the dumbest fake blonde boobs in stiletto heels." I rolled my eyes.

"Just because a woman dyes her hair blonde and wears high heeled shoes doesn't mean she's stupid. I wear high heeled shoes, and I'm graduating from high school as a junior."

"I'm sorry, Nessie. But I've yet to meet a single fake blonde that didn't have the IQ of a goldfish and no money to pay her rent because she did nothing but buy clothes and shoes." I crossed my arms.

"I think you're implying something." Jacob looked at me weird, then realized what I was talking about and sighed.

"Nessie, I never said you were stupid or anything like that."

"But…." He looked at me again and sighed.

"Fine. I wish you wouldn't spend as much money as you do on shoes. I know it's not my money, but still, I would really like for you to be more mindful about that. But that's not the point. My point is that I already don't feel good about putting someone in danger. I feel worse about it when that person is too stupid to look at the fine print."

"Jacob, you don't know if whoever she is will be stupid or not. For all you know, she might be a smart, perfectly normal and respectable college student who's willing to take a risk to be able to pay for college." He sighed and looked forward. "And for the record, Jacob, I don't spend too much on shoes." Jacob gave me a shocked look.

"Like hell you don't. Your closet is stuffed to the brim with shoes. Esme and Alice had to redesign your closet to fit them all."

"I didn't hear you complaining when I had to live with you for a week while Emmett, Jasper, and daddy were working on it." Jacob sighed.

"I'm just saying, Nessie. Lay off on the shoes. You have names for your shoes for god's sake."

"That's the name of the style. Bakers shoes have names for each style. That's how they are."

"Okay, that's fine for categorizing. But it's a whole other story when you're able to remember each of those shoes by name and say, 'I feel like wearing my Tamra Stilettos today.'"

"Don't tease, Jacob. Those Tamra stilettos are one of my favorite pairs." He looked at me weird again.

"I guessed the right name?" He sounded surprised. I nodded.

"Yes. The Tamra stilettos are the ones that have the line of pink and blue jewels and diamonds going down the foot and around the ankle. Like I said, it's one of my favorite pairs."

"Okay, sure, whatever." I stayed quiet for a moment before I sighed and spoke.

"Okay. I'll make you a deal." Jacob looked at me, letting me know I had his full attention. While I spoke, he glanced to the road. "While I'm still living with my parents and they're the ones paying for my shoes, I'll buy all the shoes I want without any restraint because, truthfully, I don't need to. But when you and I are married and it's our money, I'll lay off the shoe shopping. Or I'll just go shoe shopping with Alice and Rosalie and they can buy me shoes. Is that okay?" Jacob looked at me and thought about what I said. Eventually, he finally gave me a small smile and nodded his head.

"Alright, that works. As long as it's your family's money and not ours, go hog wild. But try not to go overboard with our money on shoes, okay." I nodded and smiled.

"Glad we came to this compromise." Jacob smiled wider and looked forward. "I never thought we would come to that talking about Rosalie and Emmett's future surrogate mother." Jacob shrugged.

"I still say they'll end up with a dumb fake blonde with more shoes than brains. That's all I'm saying."

"And I say they'll end up with a perfectly normal, respectable college student who needs money to pay her way through college." Jacob looked at me and smiled a little. Then he grinned a little wider.

"How about a bet?" I smiled.

"What kind of bet?" His grin widened until it reached from ear to ear. It was the grin I loved the most.

"You say she'll be a smart girl that knows what she's doing. I think she'll be a dip. So let's see who will be right."

"Okay. And what happens when one of us wins?"

"If I win……" He thought about what he thought would be a suitable prize for him. When he thought of something, he smiled. "If I win, then you have to go the rest of the year without buying any new shoes." My eyes widened.

"You're so cruel." He smiled.

"Okay, fine. You can only buy five for the rest of the year. They can be any ones you want, but you can only buy five. Is that better?" I gave him a playful glare.

"I'll take it. But if I'm right, you have to buy my shoes for the rest of the year." Jacob's eyes widened.

"I would go broke." I sighed, but kept smiling.

"Five pairs then. If I'm right, you have to buy me five pairs of shoes. I chose which pairs they are and when you pay for them. So I might make you spend it all in one shopping day or I might make you buy them over time. But just so you know, every time I go shopping with Alice or Rosalie for the rest of the year, you're coming with us." Jacob gave me a playful glare right back.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would." Finally, he smiled.

"It's a deal, then. I win, you're allowed five shoes to buy for the rest of the year. You win, I buy you five pairs of shoes, whatever the price." I nodded.

"It was nice doing business with you, Jacob." He smiled, then his face changed again.

"How much do you want to bet Rosalie will end up hating her anyway?"

"I seriously doubt she'll hate her. Anyone willing to carry the baby Rosalie's always wanted is an immediate favorite in her book." He shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Nessie." I smiled at him and let that topic rest.

When we got to the airport, we were able to go through the line quickly and get to the right gate in no time. We ended up having an hour to burn before our plan started boarding. Jacob and I snatched a stray shoe string we found on the ground and tied it together so we could play the finger string game. Jacob was sweet enough to sit on the floor so I wouldn't have to reach up to get the string.

A half hour later, a woman and her son came to the gate where we were and Jacob immediately didn't like the little kid. He was screaming and yelling and crying no matter what the poor mother did. She tried taking him to the bathroom and she came back twenty minutes later with the still screaming child. That child made the baby sitting behind us start crying and so on. After five minutes of that little boy screaming, the three other children at the gate were crying too. Jacob had lost his patients in no time and had taken me with him to the bar where there was some quiet. When that didn't work, he ordered a Bob Marley.

"What is that?"

"Bob Marley. It's dark rum with pineapple juice."

"Sounds revolting." Jacob chuckled.

"You wouldn't like it, but it's a nice hard drink for when people's kids are screaming in your ear." I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like kids."

"It's not that I don't like kids. I just don't like kids that don't know when and where to shut up. Especially when the parents think it's cute." Jacob shuddered and I giggled.

"You mean those parents in restaurants that think it's cute that their child is banging their silverware on their plate and making loud obnoxious noises?" Jacob chuckled, nodded, and took a big gulp of his drink.

"Exactly." He looked forward. "Another Bob Marley." The bartender nodded and got to work on Jacob's drink.

"Are you sure you should drink so much before we go on the plane?" Jacob looked at me and kissed my forehead.

"Don't worry, Nessie. This is my last one. And it takes a lot more than two Bob Marleys to get me drunk." I rolled my eyes.

"Do you, by chance, know how much it does take?" Jacob's face became thoughtful.

"I've never thought to find out." He shrugged. "Oh well. For the time being, I know that two Bob Marleys isn't going to make me drunk. Tolerant, yes, drunk, no." I giggled and kissed his shoulder.

"Tolerant is good. Just don't resort to drinking every time one of our kids starts to make you mad." Jacob smiled.

"I won't. I'll just do what Billy did whenever I did something really bad."

"And what is that?"

"Either laugh about it because what they did was really funny, or give them the belt." I leaned away from Jacob and crossed my arms.

"I have a really hard time believing that Billy of all people would give you the belt." Jacob chuckled.

"It took a lot to get Billy that angry, but when you did, it was a scary site to see. Like that time me and the others cut that tree down in Kiowa's yard. I got the belt for that. Billy even let Kiowa's dad have a swing at me. Not to mention me and the others had to repair everything that was damaged as a result of our little attempted prank."

"I'll believe getting the belt over something like that."

"Damn straight. But even now, under the circumstances, it was funny as hell. Kiowa was even laughing." He looked at me with a sad face. "I told you that, didn't I?" I nodded.

"That's alright. Those are moments you should always remember." Jacob smiled. "Do you and the others still think of her a lot?"

"Of course. Every time we pass the mini store on the reservation, we can't help but laugh."

"Why's that?" Jacob smiled and took a sip of his drink.

"One time, we all were playing a game of truth or dare. It was her ninth birthday party and we were walking around the reservation. It was my turn and, Kiowa being the birthday girl, got to choose my truth or dare."

"And what did you pick?" Jacob's smiled widened.

"Dare." I giggled.

"Oh my. What did she dare you to do?" Jacob grinned wider again.

"She dared me to go in there and try to buy a bottle of beer and a box of condoms." My eyes widened and I forced back a laugh so I could talk.

"Really?" He nodded. "How did that go?" Jacob's face became a mask of mock anger.

"The cashier called my dad." I couldn't hold back the laugh then, but I tried to stay quiet. "He told the guy to send me straight home where a thorough ass whooping was in store for me."

"Why would he hit you for something like that?" Jacob chuckled, cleared his throat and deepened his voice slightly to mock Billy's.

"'God damn it, Jacob, why the hell are you going into convenience stores and trying to buy beer and condoms? You're too young to get a girlfriend, let alone please one." That part made me laugh harder. "'And I got news for you, Jacob. At your age, no amount of alcohol is going to make a night with you any more bearable.'" As I laughed, Jacob chuckled lightly and took another sip of his drink. "Ah, Billy. He always knew how to put me in my place sometimes."

"Did my grandpa hear about that?" Jacob smirked and nodded.

"Of course he did. He even put me in jail for the rest of the weekend. It isn't on my record or anything. Charlie was sort of laughing at me the whole time I was there. He'd heard Kiowa's side of the story and thought it was funny."

"I bet. Did Kiowa apologize for that?" Jacob chuckled.

"In her own little way. She came to my cell where I was being kept and gave me a blueberry muffin." I gave him a weird look. He chuckled. "She said, 'Sorry I got you arrested. Here's a muffin. Now we're square.'" I giggled.

"That's hardly making up for it."

"I got her back a few years later with the tree on the garage more or less, so it's okay." I kept laughing through my words.

"I thought that was an accident and aimed at someone else." He nodded.

"It was. It just worked out that way, so I see it that way." I rolled my eyes and giggled.

"Whatever Jacob." He smiled and leaned over to kiss my cheek. I cringed at the smell of the rum on his breath. Jacob noticed and gave me an offended face.

"What?"

"You smell like rum." Jacob chuckled.

"It's not that bad." I took my face further away from his.

"Yes it is, Jacob. All I smell is Captain." Jacob chuckled and brought his face closer. I inched further away until I almost fell out of the stool. Jacob caught me and came to his feet. When I was stable on my feet, the stewardess called for people to start boarding the plane.

"We better get going, Nessie." Jacob turned towards the bar and finished his drink in one gulp. When he sighed, he looked at me and smiled.

"What?" He grinned wider and came closer to me. His hand took a hold of my head gently and brought me to him. I started smacking his chest, but he didn't stop. Then he kissed me a moment. In that kiss, he licked my lips and forced his tongue into my mouth. "Jacob!" He chuckled and walked towards the gate. I chased after him.

"Sorry, Ness. I couldn't resist." I smacked his arm fighting a smile as I wiped away the taste as best I could.

"Next time, try to resist. Got it?" Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, honey." I smiled at the nickname and he took a hold of my hand as we walked to the gate. We handed the lady our tickets and went on the plane and to our seats. The first class seats were nice and comfortable and were leather. I thought that part to be a bit pointless, but thought the matter unimportant.

Once the plane took off and was in the air, they started playing an in flight movie and the stewardesses started walking down the aisles serving drinks. Jacob ordered a Root Beer and I just got some water. I was glad to see that the water bottles on the plane were really big. I would need it for the in flight lunch. Jacob was going to eat most of mine, but it would look a little strange to everyone looking for Jacob to be eating all of my food. It didn't end up being a problem anyway. I fell asleep a half hour into the flight. The seats in first class were much more comfortable than the others.

Jacob woke me up by giving me a long kiss. He took his lips away when I moaned awake. When I opened my eyes, he was smiling at me with a groggy smile. Apparently, he'd slept on the flight too. How he woke up before me, though, was a mystery. I smiled lazily when I finally opened my eyes and glanced out the window. When I saw the scene of the O'Hare Airport, I looked back at Jacob again.

"Did I really sleep through the whole flight?" He nodded.

"Like a baby, Nessie. Don't feel bad, I slept through the whole flight too."

"How'd you wake up before me?" Jacob gave me a fake angry look.

"The Stewardess poked me." I giggled and kissed him.

"Shame on her." He smiled again. "Let's get out of here and get our luggage." He grinned and kissed me before getting out of his seat. I followed after him and we walked to the luggage drop off space.

"I probably should have asked this earlier, but what hotel did Edward put us in?" I giggled and took hold of one of my suitcases.

"The Four Seasons Ritz-Carlton Hotel. We're in the Anniversary Suit and we have a view of the Chicago skyline." Jacob chuckled.

"Edward gave us an anniversary suit?" I nodded. "That was nice of him." I smirked.

"Not really. It took a lot of convincing from me."

"Why?"

"Because we'll be sharing a king sized bed in a large suit and there's a huge, deep Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom." He chuckled again.

"I like Jacuzzi tubs." I smiled.

"I do to. That's why I picked that suit. And the bed's huge and there's a flat screen TV in the bedroom and living room." Jacob smiled.

"I smell a night of popcorn and bad horror movies." I smiled back and nodded as I grabbed the last piece of luggage.

"Definitely. And in between, we'll go to all the sights of Chicago." Jacob took some of the luggage and I took some and we walked out and tried to find a cab.

"Did Edward recommend anything?" I shook my head.

"I asked. But all the fun stuff that Chicago has now wasn't around when daddy was a kid. He grew up when it was perfectly okay to screw someone over because they were Italian or Polish."

"I figured they would have lived in Chicago again through the years." I shook my head.

"Not enough overcast days. Chicago has too much sun. They'd never be able to go to school. And schools in down town Chicago aren't the best anyway. You have to go to the suburbs for the good schools."

"Maine isn't much better for overcast days, though." I shook my head.

"It does if you're closer to the coast."

After that was said, I found a cab and waved it over to us. The cab pulled over and Jacob and I put our luggage in the trunk. When our stuff was in the back, we went into the back seat of the cab and the driver went off once we told him where we needed to go. I had to fight a laugh when Jacob got into the cab. The cab was one of those newer, much smaller Prius cars, so it was really hard for Jacob to fit into the car. He ended up having to hunch over and keep his legs tensely bent so he could fit.

Traffic wasn't great, so it took about an hour to get to the hotel. But when we got there, there were people coming out to help us with our luggage and had all our stuff on a large carrying stand. He asked what room we were in and I told him the anniversary suit on the 27th level. We went up to the front desk and checked in, then got our keys and went up to our room. When we got to our room, Jacob went straight to our bedroom and plopped on the bed. It was just barely large enough to fit all 6' 6" of him, but it managed to. He groaned when his face touched the pillows and the sound made me smile to myself. I walked over to the bed where he was and sat down on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Do you want to do something for dinner later?" He took his face out of the pillow and rested his head on the side so he could look at me. He smiled.

"Can it be a late dinner?"

"That's fine with me. You're the one who's eating." He chuckled lightly under his breath and nodded.

"That's true." He closed his eyes again and sighed. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure. What?" He smiled shyly.

"My back feels really tense from the cab. Those seats were impossible."

"It's not the car's fault your legs are the length of the car." He chuckled at my exaggeration.

"Yeah it is." We both laughed a little before Jacob continued. "Could you rub my back? That stupid cab really messed me up." I smiled and nodded.

"Sure, Jacob." He smiled back.

"Thanks. From now on, no tiny fag cars." I smacked Jacob's back before I started applying some pressure in the right places to relieve the tension in Jacob's shoulders.

"Prius cars aren't fag cars. They're environmentally friendly cars." I could tell Jacob was mentally rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, Nessie. And whenever you see one drive by, you hear the words, 'I'm gay.'" I smacked him again.

"That's not true. Besides, I think it's cute." He was mentally rolling his eyes.

"Because it's small."

"No." Jacob smiled.

"Why do you think people like those damn smart cars in Europe? You know. The cars that are the size of a donut." I giggled and smacked his back again, but not as hard.

"Stop it, Jacob. Not everyone has to like the same things. Some people like tiny cars. And some people like to have huge cars. And we all know what people say about them." Jacob's eyes flew open at me and he held back a laugh.

"Shame on you, Nessie." I giggled.

"You're the one that taught me that philosophy."

"Me?" I nodded.

"Yeah, you. You're the one that accused Emmett of having a huge Jeep because he was compensating for something."

"Yeah, but that was a joke."

"Enough of a joke that Emmett challenged you to a fight to the death?" Jacob rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't a fight to the death. It was just a fight. It's not my fault people take jokes seriously." I smiled.

"Well, you're still the one that taught me that little stereotype, so there. I hope you're proud of yourself." He smiled.

"You sound mad at me."

"Yeah. Because I had to hear, from Rosalie, about how untrue your accusation was." Jacob made a grossed out face and stuffed it back into the pillow.

"No more, okay. No more." I giggled and kept rubbing Jacob's back.

"No problem. But remember whose fault it was that subject came up in the first place." Jacob chuckled and took his face out of the pillow again.

"Alright, I admit it's my fault. Now can we never bring that up again?" I smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Jacob. We'll never bring it up again." He smiled and went on his elbows and lifted his face to mine. I brought my face to his and we kissed.

"Thanks, Nessie."

"Does your back feel better?" Jacob smiled and rested his head on the pillow again.

"I'm afraid not. I still need you to rub out a few more kinks." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Whatever, Jacob." He smiled and didn't say anything after that.

I ended up rubbing his back until he fell asleep about ten minutes later. When he fell asleep, I decided to join him and walked around to the other side and crawled into bed and scooted next to him. I gave his neck a quick kiss before I snuggled close to him back, loving the feel of his warm skin, better than any blanket in the world. I was the one that woke up first. But when I woke up, it was ten at night. I sighed and looked at Jacob. He was still out cold. I lifted myself up and out of bed and went to my suitcase to get my toiletries and his out of our bags. When I had everything, I went to the bathroom and stuck everything on the countertops that held the two sinks. I looked over and saw the deep, Jacuzzi tub. I smiled as an idea popped into my head. I knew everything that we would get at the hotel was already prepaid on daddy's credit card, so there was nothing wrong with ordering room service. I ordered Jacob a stake with a baked potato. I figured simple for the time being was the better way to go. When the food got to our room about an hour later, I brought it to our room and placed it next to the bed. Then I sat on the edge and kissed Jacob until he was groaning himself awake. When his eyes opened, he smiled at me.

"I over slept didn't I?" I shook my head.

"It's alright. I got you room service. Is stake and a baked potato alright?" He smiled and nodded.

"It's not your cooking, but it'll do." I smiled and moved over so he could sit up and eat his dinner.

"How is it?"

"It's worthy of being called five stars." I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder as he ate. When he was done eating, I asked him what I'd wanted to ask.

"I was thinking." He looked at me. "Let's try out that Jacuzzi tub together." He smiled at me.

"Alright. I'll meet you in there." I smiled and got up from the bed and walked over to my suitcase for my swimsuit. Alice was kind enough to pack one for me, just in case Jacob and I would need swimsuits. She even packed one for Jacob just in case he forgot.

When I had my suit, a red two piece with a black buckle on the hips and in between the breasts, I walked into the bathroom to put it on. I rested all my clothes in a neat pile on one of the baskets in the bathroom and started the tube. I saw a button that said jets, so I pushed that too. Nothing happened at first, but as Jacob was walking in, the jets of the tub released a torrent of water that hit all along the tub and made a huge splash. I blocked my face from the water as Jacob ran over and turned off the jets. When they were off, the tub kept pouring in water to fill up the tub. I wasn't sure how long that would take seeing as the tub was really deep. Jacob was laughing after he turned off the jets and fighting a smile when he stood up in from of me.

"Okay, I don't know how to work this thing, so sue me." He chuckled a little more before he breathed and went on his knees in front of me sitting on the tub.

"It's just kind of funny is all." I shrugged.

"I suppose." He smiled and shook his head at me while lifted himself higher up on his knees and giving me a kiss.

"You're one of a kind, Nessie. You know that?" I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I've been told that once or twice." His smile widened a little and didn't say anything more.

The loud sound of water pouring into the tub was the only sound made for a moment before Jacob and I finally kissed after spending that time just looking at each other. Jacob ran his tongue along my bottom lip shortly after our lips touched and I was more than happy to comply with him. I opened for him and our tongues immediately met. When they did, I fell into Jacob's arms and arranged myself to sit on his lap. Jacob's hands ran down my back and over my butt to my thighs, which were spread out and open over his, and pulled me higher up onto his lap so that my face was directly in front of his. My arms tightened around his neck when he did that, ensuring that I would stay where I was.

Jacob's hands stayed at my thighs, only moving his thumbs. My hands trailed into his hair and my fingers tangled into his short, Alice freshly cut it, hair. All the while, I was trailing my tongue all along Jacob's teeth while his tongue was trying to lick the roof of my mouth and my upper teeth. When he tickled the roof of my mouth, I moaned and brought my hands out of his hair and to his neck. My thumbs caressed his jaw and I bit his upper lip gently and sucked. He did the same to my bottom lip and started squeezing my thighs. His hands were rough and strong, and the feel of them made me tremble in his hands. When I trembled, I felt Jacob get hard, and that only added to the sensations I was feeling.

I opened my mouth again and started caressing my thumbs into his shoulders and squeezing like he was still doing to me. I tried forcing myself closer to him, almost like I wanted to mold into one person. I brought my arms around his neck and again and his hands ran back up and laced his fingers into my hair. He started bunching my curls in his hands and it made me tremble again. I almost smiled to myself when I realized the effect it had on him. His whole body felt like a soft rock with every muscle in his body. I felt him get more and more tense as my tongue played with his. I earned a groan from him when I forced myself even closer to him. I tried putting all my weight on him so he would fall back, but the first attempt didn't get him to fall over. I took my arms from around his neck and placed my hands on his chest to get a better grip. When my hands were on his chest, I pushed a little harder on Jacob trying to get him to fall. He still wouldn't budge. Jacob's hands left my hair and went to my shoulders where he held onto me and pulled me away. When our eyes were open and looking at each other, both our eyes were hazy and clouded. We were both breathing a little heavier with the long needed gasp of air that I'd forgotten I even needed.

"I think the tub's ready." He said and he looked over my shoulder to check. He smiled and looked at me. "Yeah, it's ready." I sighed and shook my head lightly. Then I stood up and he followed after. But then I was suddenly in Jacob's arms again and he was walking us to the Jacuzzi.

"Jacob, what are you doing?" He chuckled and looked at me with an evil smile.

"Dropping you off." When he said that, I felt him bend down a little and then he dropped me. I fell into the Jacuzzi and the water splashed and I was surrounded by water. The fall didn't hurt. The water softened it. When the water had calmed a little, Jacob stepped in with me with a big grin on his face. I glared playfully at him.

"Funny, Jacob. Very funny." He chuckled and splashed a little water at me. I splashed water right back.

"I figured you needed it." I kept up my playful glare and stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled again.

"You're one to talk, Jacob." His smile didn't falter as he shrugged.

"That's why I'm in here with you." I giggled and shook my head at him. I swam through the water until I was sitting right next to Jacob in the tub. When I was next to him, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pressed the jet button again. This time, the water didn't fly out of the tub, but stayed in the water. It felt nice. Jacob groaned contentedly. "I should have gone straight in here. This feels nice."

"So I rubbed your back for nothing?" He shook his head while he closed his eyes.

"No, not at all. I just wish I'd asked you while I was in here. There wouldn't be a single kink in my body if I did." I sighed.

"Turn around then and I'll do it for you." He smiled and did as I told him to.

"I love you, Nessie." I smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, Jacob." He chuckled and sighed contentedly when I applied pressure to all the right spots.

Rubbing Jacob's back felt better with hot water and jets of water on my hands. Jacob's breathing was starting to slow a little, so I pinched his neck. He grunted a little and looked at me.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Jacob." He smiled and kept looking at me.

"I wasn't falling asleep."

"Yes you were."

"I was getting relaxed."

"Relaxed enough that you were about to fall asleep." He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Nessie." I smiled and kissed his neck before I continued rubbing his back. I rubbed for several minutes before I felt all the knots come out of his back. I started trailing to his shoulders.

"Is that better, Jacob?" He nodded and sighed contentedly again.

"Great." I smiled and kissed his back.

"How do your shoulders feel?" Jacob smiled wider.

"They're a little tense. Would you mind?" I giggled.

"No, I don't." I continued on to rub his shoulders and he breathed in and out in relaxation. It didn't take as long to get all the kinks out of his shoulders, so I moved on when I was done. I started rubbing his lower back, getting the kinks out of there. He didn't say more than another breath of relaxation.

I rubbed all the kinks out of his lower back in minutes, as I did with his shoulders. With a lack of things to do, I started rubbing up his back again until I got to his neck. I gently massaged the bones of his neck and part of his head. He groaned softly when I started massaging his neck and I started rubbing his throat just as gently. After several minutes of massaging his neck and back, Jacob fell backwards and rested his head on my chest with a big smile on his face. He wasn't asleep, at least. But he was close. I brought my arms around his neck and his hand came out of the water and took hold of my arm. He straightened himself out so he was laying his head a little closer to my face. When he was right there, I kissed his forehead and he turned his head to face me and kissed me.

"That was nice, Nessie. Thanks for that." I shook my head.

"Think nothing of it. Thanks for not falling asleep." He smiled and reached up to kiss my jaw.

"You're welcome. I'll admit I was close too."

"I could tell." He grinned and cleared his throat. I brought my legs up so I was straddling his back. Jacob took his other hand and that went straight to my knee. I smiled and bit his ear. He shuddered and we both laughed lightly. "You should get a Jacuzzi tub. This is nice." He chuckled to himself.

"Maybe one day. I doubt I could fit one in my apartment." I shrugged.

"I think you could. It would take a lot of renovating, but you could." Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"I'd rather not have to rearrange my house to fit one little thing. Especially when I don't plan on living there forever."

"I wouldn't mind it. It's a nice place." Jacob nodded.

"For now, yes. But later, it will be too small." I smiled.

"It'll be good enough for a small family." Jacob kissed my jaw again.

"But I don't want a small family." I gave Jacob a surprised, but happy look.

"How many kids do you want, Jacob Black?" He laughed again at me using his full name and shrugged.

"I figured three or four. We agreed on three or four, right?"

"I remember it being two or three, but whatever. I'm open to more."

"Me too." After a moment of silence, I laughed to myself at a thought that came into my head. Jacob glanced back at me. "What's so funny?" I shook my head.

"I was just thinking what it would be like if we had a daughter."

"Why's that funny?"

"Because the lucky girl that has you for a daddy will have you wrapped around her little fingers. I just know it."

"You mean the way Edward is with you?" I nodded.

"Yep. Exactly like that. You two are more alike than you think." Jacob shrugged.

"I don't think so. I like to think I'm a lot more fun than he is." I giggled and kissed the top of his head.

"Don't be mean. Daddy's just more reserved than you are. It's the way he was raised and the generation he grew up in." Jacob shrugged.

"I suppose." Despite the comment, Jacob had a silly grin on his face thinking about having a daughter. "She'd probably look like you." I shook my head.

"I doubt it. She's going to look just like her daddy. Black hair, tan skin, and my brown eyes. Just watch. I'm right." Jacob chuckled.

"I would love for her to have your eyes. Mine are too dark." I shook my head.

"I don't think so. I like your eyes. They always made me feel safe and loved. No one else's eyes do that except for my family's golden eyes. Yours make me feel the safest." He smiled triumphantly then.

"Thanks. I love your eyes too." I smiled and we kissed again. When Jacob looked forward, he grinned. "She will, you know. Have me wrapped around her little fingers." I nodded.

"She will. She'll be the luckiest girl in the world. She'll have a daddy and a grandpa that will treat her like a princess." Jacob chuckled.

"I can't imagine what Edward will be like." I smiled. "Grandpa Edward. It sounds so weird." I smiled.

"But I bet if you were to think that in front of him, he'd just light up." He shrugged.

"You can just put him in the sun if you want him to do that." I laughed at his joke and he laughed with me. I slapped his chest halfheartedly and that only made him laugh harder.

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean, I'm stating the obvious." I rolled my eyes and he kissed my chin.

"Well, don't state the obvious then." He chuckled and kissed my jaw.

"Sorry, Nessie. Just joking." I smiled and kissed him.

"I know." Jacob's hand kept caressing my knee and I started brushing my nails along Jacob's chest. Jacob rested all the weight of his head on my shoulder when he felt my nails. I smiled and rested my cheek on the top of his head. Jacob's knees were out of the water in an attempt to fit in the tub. Deep or not, Jacob was still really tall. Most things aren't made for men as tall as Jacob.

Jacob's hands started running up and down my thigh and my knee, all the while making me tremble. He would squeeze my thigh every now and then, so I would gently scratch Jacob's skin. With Jacob's head on my shoulder, I could easily scratch his neck and his Adam's apple. It didn't seem to bother or tickle him, so I made that part of my route. But when I did that, Jacob started trying to tickle my feet. I would smile and take my feet away. That process went on for several minutes with us smiling and laughing at each other. After a while, we started just lying together in the tub caressing and enjoying each other's company. I saw that Jacob was wearing the watch I'd given him and smiled. I was sure to get him a watch that was water proof.

"What time is it?" I already knew, I just wanted Jacob to look. He held up his watch in front of his face and his eyes widened a little.

"Holy shit, it's one in the morning." I giggled and kissed his neck.

"Do you think we should get out now?"

"Probably. I can't believe the water stayed hot this long."

"I think the jets did it." He smiled and nodded.

"That's probably what did it." Then he lifted himself to his knees in the tub and held his hand out to me to help me up. I grabbed on and he pulled me up with him as he stood and stepped out. I touched the faucet and pushed down on the little stick to unplug the tub and pressed my toe on the off button for the jets as he pulled me out with him. "I'm not tired to be honest."

"Me either."

"So what should we do?" I shrugged.

"I think we have free OnDemand. You want to see what's on?" He shrugged.

"Sure. Let's try and find a cheap movie we haven't seen."

"Alright." Jacob left the bathroom and closed the door to give me privacy. "Jacob, I don't have my PJs." I heard Jacob laugh to himself, then walk around until he got to my suitcase.

"Which one has them?"

"The one that isn't filled with shoes." I knew Jacob wanted to say something, but I could feel him rolling his eyes and keeping his thoughts to himself. He looked through the bag and finally found them. When he did, he opened the door to the bathroom and placed them on the counter.

"Can I ask you a favor Nessie?"

"Sure."

"Next time you pack, put your panties at the bottom or something." I smirked.

"What's wrong with my panties? I thought you would really like them." Jacob blushed and held up his hands.

"Just leave them at the bottom next time, okay." I giggled.

"Sorry. I never thought I'd need you to go through my suitcase." He rolled his eyes.

"Stop teasing me. It's cruel."

"Who said I was teasing you?" Jacob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Nessie, let me explain something to you. Men, we're very sensitive……for lack of a better word….as far as that stuff's concerned. And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, cause I know you do. And we are also well known for having really good imaginations that are known to get graphic. That's why Edward always looks so uncomfortable whenever he's in a public place. Cause there's always a guy that's thinking about some chick he just saw walk by with a nice ass." I giggled.

"Are you saying that's what you do?" He sighed.

"Nessie, I'm human, so sue me. I'm a lot more careful when Edward's around, but when he isn't, I tend to slack."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing that you're attracted to me." He shook his head.

"It's not a bad thing. What is bad is you have a habit of teasing me, whether you mean to or not." I sighed and shrugged.

"Okay, I'm sorry." He smiled.

"Thanks for understanding, Nessie."

"But keep in mind it's not entirely my fault. I'm not the only pretty girl in the world, you know." Jacob shook his head.

"Nessie, as far as I'm concerned, you're the only woman in the world worth looking at and admiring. That's the good thing about imprinting. Once you have, the imprinted becomes the object of our complete affection. No matter how young she is, you don't see other women's faces anymore. She becomes the only woman in the world you ever look at or want to look at. So whenever I get hard, keep in mind, it's entirely your fault." I giggled and smiled. I couldn't help but blush. His words were so sweet even though he was technically lecturing me.

"I'm happy to hear that, Jacob. I feel the same way." He smiled. "And I hope you remember that no matter how many men try to flirt with me or look at me." He nodded.

"I know, Nessie. That doesn't mean I can't be protective." I shook my head.

"I don't mind that at all. Just don't bark at Marcelo for being Marcelo. And since Ada-Maria was born, he seems to have cooled down a bit." He shrugged.

"Whatever you say Nessie. But keep what I said in mind, okay." I nodded.

"Sure, you too." Jacob smiled and closed the door to the bathroom to give me some privacy. I dried off and walked over to the clothes that Jacob had left for me. I realized it was a pair of blue cotton shorts and a purple tank top shirt. I giggled and rolled my eyes. I knew I had a pair of flannel in my suitcase, so this little outfit was all him. The thought just kept me laughing to myself.

I rested my wet swimsuit over the side of the railing of the shower that was in the bathroom for it to dry. I suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Nessie, can I put my trunks in there?" I snatched a towel and covered myself before walking to the door and opening it.

"I'll take them. I'll be out in a minute." He smiled and walked away to the bed as I closed the door to the bathroom. I changed quickly after he left. Only to notice he didn't grab me a change of underwear. I sighed and opened the door to the bathroom and walked out. Jacob looked at me, first with a normal face, then suspicious.

"Why aren't you wearing a bra?"

"Because you didn't bring me a change. So if you're feeling anything Jacob, you only have yourself to blame." He huffed a laugh and sighed.

"Alright fine, it's my fault." I smiled.

"I'm glad you admitted it. Now I'm going to get some and change and I'll be back in a moment." He smiled and nodded, not really moving more than that. I snatched a pair of clothes at random, not really checking to see if they matched, and walked into the bathroom and changed again. When I had on a bra and panties, I put my pajamas back on and walked out of the bathroom and right to where Jacob was on the bed.

"I have the free movies list. What should we watch?"

"Are there any horror movies worth watching?" Jacob looked through the list before answering.

"There's Monster Island." I shook my head. "You're right. It's not worth making fun of."

"It makes fun of itself. The graphics are awful, the main character's a dumbass and his love interest is a tree hugger possessed by a goddess and they're trying to save Carmen Electra from an evil giant ant hill. And Nick Carter makes an appearance at the end, conveniently rescuing everyone in his private jet. I rest my case." Jacob chuckled.

"Yeah. Not worth it." As Jacob kept looking through the movie selection, I brought myself onto Jacob's chest and rested my head there. He brought his hand to my waist and started running all along my waist, hip, and leg.

"Let's watch that movie." I said when Jacob reached a certain movie. Alice said it was good.

"Stolen Women, Captured Hearts?" I nodded. "It sounds like a chick flick."

"It is. But daddy said you'd appreciate it."

"What's it about?"

"It's about a tribe of Sioux Indians that kidnap these two women from a Kansas frontier and one of the Indians falls in love with a captured woman."

"Does Edward think I'll like it just because it has Indians or something? I'm not even Sioux. I'm Quileute."

"No, that's not the reason he thinks you'd like it. He thinks there's a bunch of parts that you'd think were funny and would enjoy making fun of it." Jacob gave me a thoughtful look and opened up a description for the movie. He reads the paragraph describing it and kept looking thoughtful. Finally, he shrugged.

"I guess Edward would know whether or not I'd appreciate something." I nodded.

"Yep. So let's watch it." Jacob shrugged again and pressed the button to play the movie. As we watched the movie, Jacob made his little comments to just about everything. It was the beginning of the movie and Jacob was already making his little comments.

"So it hasn't even been five minutes in the movie and he's already in love with her?" I shrugged.

"Maybe he had a spirit vision of her or something." Jacob shrugged.

"Those things tell you what your calling in life is when you have them. They don't tell you the person you're supposed to fall in love with."

"Maybe she's his calling in life. He's already one of the better if not the best of the warriors in the tribe." Jacob shrugged and didn't say anything more. The movie continued and was simple enough. Jacob was silent up to the part of the movie where we met Anna's, the main female character, future husband.

"Did he just ask her to be his husband?" I nodded.

"It's an awkward moment. They're getting married and they've only just met."

"Even so, that's not exactly how you propose to a woman." I looked at his face with a challenging smile on my face.

"Is that so? How would you propose to me?" Jacob gave me a face of mock surprise.

"Well, Ness, you're just going to have to wait until it happens now won't you?" I pouted.

"You're not going to tell me?" Jacob nodded.

"Sorry, Nessie. You won't get me to tell you this."

"So you already know what you're going to do?" Jacob started nodding but shook his head.

"No clue." I giggled and bit his nose. He took his head away from me in surprise.

"You could have just said that."

"Right, Nessie. How romantic would it be for me to say, 'I don't know how I'm going to propose to you'?" I smacked his chest gently and was still smiling.

"Still, I would have understood."

"Okay then. I don't know how I'm going to propose." Jacob brought his hand on my chin and made me look at him. "But when I do, you better be ready." I smiled wider and he kissed me with love. It wasn't a very long kiss, but it was a sweet kiss that made me sigh. I felt Jacob smile when he heard me sigh and he ended the kiss with a sweet peck.

"I'll be ready for whatever you got." Jacob chuckled and looked back towards the movie. We were now watching the Sioux tribe doing a dance around the fire while Anna and the other captured girl, Sarah, were just given dog for dinner.

"Dog. That sounds appetizing." I smirked.

"What did your tribe eat traditionally?"

"Rabbits, deer, sometimes bear, but never wolf or dog. It's against tribal law."

"Maybe it's different for the Sioux."

"Obviously." A little later, the main guy, Tokalah, told one of the younger tribe members to teach him English. Jacob got a kick out of the scene where he tried teaching Tokalah how to say, 'White man is son of a bitch'." I rolled my eyes when Jacob laughed at that. He laughed even harder when we got to the scene where Tokalah and Anna talked for the first time. He was trying to speak English and she was trying to speak Sioux. He ended the conversation by pointing out that they both had very poor grammar in each other's language, then he leaned down on his skin rug bed thing and not so subtly indicated that he wanted to sleep with her. Jacob didn't even bother not to laugh.

"Why is that funny?"

"He just doesn't waste any time does he? 'I've attempted to speak English. Now let's do it. That's a universal language.'" I giggled.

"He loves her." Jacob gave me a sarcastic look.

"Yeah, Nessie. Nothing says I love you like kidnapping a woman from her home and family and trying to sleep with her after just barely knowing her." I giggled and shook my head. "Maybe I should do that then." I gave him a weird, surprised expression.

"What?"

"Seriously. I could ask Seth, Jared, Paul, Embry, and Brian to help me 'kidnap' you from the cottage and I could hold you 'hostage' for a few days."

"Would we sleep together at the end of all that?"

"No. We could make out if you want."

"Jacob, these two have sex in the middle of the woods later in the movie. If we aren't going to do that, then don't tease me with the idea."

"Hey, don't spoil it for me." I rolled his eyes.

"Jacob, it's a lifetime movie. Of course they have sex. That's just about every lifetime movie in the world. A woman is either getting beaten or getting laid. They're all the same." Jacob chuckled.

"Don't say anything else." I smiled and kept quiet. But Jacob kept up his little comments. He really got a laugh at the part when Tokalah handed Anna the scalps.

"That's gross."

"And you complain about me giving your grandma a dead rabbit." He shook his head and I sighed.

"That's gross too."

"At least I didn't kill that rabbit. It was already dead when I found it. Those men he took those scalps from were alive." Jacob laughed out loud again. "Oh god, he wants her to make a coat for him and put the scalps on it. Nice."

"Gross."

"Not really Nessie. Making a coat is kind of a wifely duty. A man asks you to make him a coat, it's his way of saying he loves you." I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Hey, Nessie."

"I cook for you, I clean your apartment, and we already know I'm marrying you. You don't need me to make you a coat."

"It doesn't have to have human scalps. I'd wear a knitted sweater if you made it for me."

"Jacob, I would never make you a knitted sweater. You're too muscular, it wouldn't work on you."

"Gee Nessie, thanks for that."

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but bulging muscle and knitted sweaters don't mix. Cotton and bulging muscle work, though." I felt Jacob's chest vibrate as he chuckled and he flexed his chest muscles a little for me. It made me giggle.

"Glad you approve, Nessie." I smiled and kissed his chest.

"I do." He chuckled a little more and his hands squeezed me where they were at my waist. A few minutes later, we got to the part of the movie where Tokalah was looking at the coat Anna was making, telling her it was good. Then he asked to try it on. Jacob started laughing again. "Now what's so funny?"

"The look on his face is priceless." I gave him a confused smile.

"How so?" He chuckled again while he spoke.

"'I so want to do you right now.'" He kept laughing and I rolled my eyes.

"It's a lifetime movie Jacob."

"And in every lifetime movie, men are either complete assholes or perfect."

"If you want perfect, you should watch one of those movies based off Nora Roberts romance novels. Those are some perfect men."

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yep." Jacob gave me a look like he was deeply offended. I knew he was joking though, so I kept smiling.

"And I'm not perfect is what you're saying?" I rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, you're more perfect than any man in any of those movies. Though I won't lie, that guy that played Smith Jared in Sex and The City is hott. He was in one of those Nora Roberts movies."

"He's not that hott."

"Are you kidding? The man's in his early thirties. He has just the right amount of age lines that make him look like a man but not old."

"I don't have any age lines. I always thought that was a good thing."

"In your case it is. You would look great either way. I'm just saying, age suits that man." Jacob shrugged and let it go. For the rest of the movie, Jacob didn't say much else about the movie. After they'd done it in the woods, there weren't any romantic glances for him to make fun of anymore. He did laugh a little when Tokalah made the comment about his spirit trip with the woman with the book, but nothing much other than that. I was asleep before the movie was even over. I already knew how it ended anyway.

"Nessie." I woke up to Jacob saying my name. When I opened my eyes, the sun was up, showing that it was morning. "Morning."

"Morning. Did you like the movie?" Jacob shrugged.

"Edward knows what I like." I smiled and pushed myself up to his face to give him a kiss.

"Morning after garlic breath, Jacob. You might want to fix that." Jacob gave me a weird look, then rolled his eyes halfheartedly and got up to go to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He was gone a minute and came back with his white teeth bright in his smile. I smiled back as he came to me and gave me a kiss while I was still lying on the bed.

"Better?" I nodded.

"Much better. It's minty fresh." Jacob smirked and kissed me again.

"And you smell like you."

"That's the benefit of never eating human food."

"I hope you don't think you're immune when you eat sauerkraut and capers. Those make you taste sour."

"They make me taste sour?" He nodded.

"You don't eat it often at least." He gave me another kiss and I kissed him back despite wanting to smack him lightly. Suddenly, I was in Jacob's arms with my feet dangling a foot above the ground looking at him face to face. "So what should we do today?" I shrugged.

"Let's start small. Let's go to Navy Pier." Jacob smiled.

"Are you sure? That's more a restaurant area and cotton candy and such." I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I could see that Ferris wheel a mile away. I was thinking we could have a nice romantic day together at Navy Pier. They have gift shops there too. And it's more a place to walk around and be together."

"That's true." Jacob brought himself up from the bed and walked over to his suitcase. He took out a pair of pants and a grey tank top. That was the first thing he put on and he started changing from his sweats to his pants.

I got up from bed while he was changing and walked over to grab a change of clothes. I put on some light wash blue jeans and a polka dotted tank top under a thin purple cotton shirt. I was tempted to wear high heels just to tease Jacob, but I decided against it and wore tennis shoes. I came out of the bathroom and saw that Jacob wasn't in the bedroom anymore. I looked through the suit and saw him waiting for me at the front door. When he saw me, he smiled.

"You ready to go?" I nodded.

"Do you want to get breakfast first?" He nodded.

"Yeah. I can eat some eggs in the restaurant downstairs before we go." I smiled once and walked to Jacob as he opened the door to the room and walked after me once I was out. It took forever for the elevator to get to our floor, but when you're on the 27th level of a building, it's not that bizarre that it would.

When the elevator did finally get to our level, there was no one in there with us. Jacob and I started talking on the way down and by the time we reached the 22nd floor, five more people were in the elevator. One couple was talking to me a little too comfortably and it made me feel awkward. Jacob was confused for a moment, then a look of realization came to him and he pulled me closer to him. I wasn't sure what he realized, but I knew it was something I wasn't interested in and I stayed close. When we reached the 19th floor, a woman came on and she struck up a conversation with Jacob. I tried to ignore her, but I couldn't help but be bothered by her. I was even more bothered when she got off at the same level as us to grab some breakfast. Jacob was polite, but I knew he was a little aggravated with her too. He ate his breakfast as fast as he could and we were out of there in a matter of five minutes.

Once again, it took forever for the elevator to get to our level, but we waited patiently. Jacob had brought my hand around his lower back and had his hand resting on my lower back now. I think he was trying to avoid being spoken to as much as possible. There were a few people in the elevator when it finally reached our level, but no one looked like they would be talkative. When we were on the first floor, we practically ran out of the hotel and found a taxi to take us to Navy Pier.

We got there early, so there weren't a lot of people there yet. We went straight to the fair area of Navy Pier. Jacob found the remote control car attraction and was immediately attracted to that. We spent two hours playing and it never got boring. Jacob ended up in a little head to head race with some guy in a suit. Jacob won eighty bucks from him. Once I was finally able to drag Jacob away from the remote control boats, we went to the lighthouse ride and Jacob got a headache from going up and down so many times.

When lunch rolled around, we picked one of the many restaurants at Navy Pier and had lunch. Jacob didn't like the waiter, but he was keeping that to himself. The waiter was nicer to me than I think Jacob appreciated. He'd directed all the questions to me and hardly glanced at Jacob even when he was taking his order. When the waiter walked away, Jacob actually pulled my chair closer to him. I only smiled and rolled my eyes at him. To make him feel better, I rested my head on his shoulder and put my hand on his knee. Jacob wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me to his chest.

"Do you think he'll get the point?" I giggled.

"Well, if he doesn't, who cares? He's not getting anywhere." Jacob smirked.

"Good." A while later, the waiter came back to refill Jacob's barely empty glass. He didn't say anything to me, which put a big smile on Jacob's face. I rolled my eyes at him again and didn't say anything. A little later, though, a girl came over that didn't look like she worked at the restaurant. She had a funny grin on her face when she looked at Jacob.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but are you Taylor Lautner?" Jacob looked at her a moment, rolled his eyes, then looked at me. Then he looked back at her with a polite smile and shook his head.

"Sorry, no." The girl kept smiling at him though, and that bothered me.

"You look a lot like him." Jacob smiled.

"Thanks for saying." I made my presence known after that.

"Hi. I'm Nessie. The Taylor Lautner look alike's girlfriend. Is there anything else you wanted to say?" Jacob gave me a surprised smile, but didn't say anything. The girl looked at me a little offended and didn't say anything. She only walked back to her table and left us alone. Jacob chuckled.

"Jesus, first I look like Steven Strait, now I look like Taylor Lautner." I smiled.

"Don't worry. You're more handsome than both." Jacob smiled and kissed my nose.

"Thanks Nessie."

When Jacob finished eating his lunch, we walked around the boardwalk and talked for a while. We went on the Merry-go-round for a few minutes and had a ride on the giant spinning thing that Navy Pier had. Someone's shoe almost hit me in the face, but it just barely missed. Jacob was immediately laughing. It took me a minute to think it was funny, but we laughed for a long time when I finally did. We started laughing harder when we saw the shoe's owner running away from the ride searching relentlessly for her shoe. It was funny to watch her limp around. She was wearing wedge shoes that made her a good five inches taller. There was no way not to laugh at her trying to maneuver.

Most of the afternoon, we were in gift shops looking at stuff we weren't planning to buy. I did cave and buy a Navy Pier souvenir t-shirt and I made Jacob get one too so I wouldn't feel as silly for getting it. While Jacob and I were walking to the next gift shop, we walked hand in hand and close together. I loved being able to hold his hand. He had such large hands and they were so warm. My body was already hot on its own, but he made me warmer just by holding my hand.

Every souvenir shop we went into was pretty much the same, so that got boring really quick. Eventually, we just sat on a bench on the boardwalk sitting together talking. I was looking forward most to the Ferris wheel, but I wanted to wait until the sun went down. Chicago was beautiful at night and I wanted to get a good view of it. And I wanted some nice alone time with Jacob. The ride wouldn't last very long, but it would be long enough for the sheer thrill of getting to kiss on a Ferris wheel. All the while, sitting together and talking, we would kiss several times. They were usually quick little pecks. But sometimes they would last and would be passionate and loving. When they were, the world always went away. And when our kiss would be over and the world came back, I wouldn't even care that girls were checking Jacob out or men were checking me out. Jacob was mine and I had the reassurance that he was all mine and would be forever. I was especially happy that Jacob realized he had nothing to worry about. I wouldn't leave Jacob for the world.

When it was finally night, Jacob and I walked to the Ferris wheel and waited in a long line to get on. Evidently, I wasn't the only one who wanted to see Chicago at night. It was a line that lasted an hour, but when we got to the front, it was worth the wait. Jacob and I got on the Ferris wheel and sat close together and looked forward to see the city. Chicago was a sight to see. The building in the distance that was shaped like a diamond was the most memorable about Chicago.

"It's beautiful." I said. Jacob nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it is. It almost makes me wonder why Edward would leave a city like this when it's so pretty at night."

"Daddy wants to be able to be outside during the day. He can't do that in Chicago. Besides, Carlisle prefers to be in small towns. They feel more homey to him."

"Reason enough." I giggled at his tone.

"Are you saying you'd want to move here?" Jacob laughed and shook his head.

"Not in a million years. I hate the city. It's too noisy. And people are rude in the city. I like living in the reservation. Everyone knows everyone and everyone's friends. More or less."

"But that opens more windows for gossip and rumors." Jacob shrugged.

"That's why you avoid being friends with the gossip in town. Like that Jessica Stanley chick Bella went to high school with. She was really determined for there to be something to spread around whenever there was something to say. Especially when Edward and Bella were first dating."

"How would you know that? You didn't go to momma's and daddy's school."

"Bella told me all about it. She doesn't usually complain about people but when she does, she's quite specific." I smiled.

"Doesn't sound much like momma."

"That's stuff she usually tells Edward. I'm the one she complains to whenever something stupid happens. Like anything that ever involved Mike Newton." Jacob laughed to himself suddenly. "Did Bella tell you?" I looked up at him questioningly.

"Tell me what?" Jacob smirked.

"Mike and Jessica are getting married in August."

"I thought momma said they were both at college."

"They were. But they graduated and had been dating long distance during their last year of college. At least that's what Angela told Bella when they'd hung out a few months ago when Angela was visiting."

"I didn't know Angela and Jessica were that close."

"Not really. Jessica just likes to brag to anyone who will listen is all. But anyway, Angela told Bella about the whole long distance relationship thing and last week, Bella and Edward got an invitation to Jessica's and Mike's wedding."

"Sounds fun. Are they going?" He shrugged.

"Bella doesn't really want to, Bella being Bella and all." I giggled. "But Edward and Alice are trying to convince her to go. Edward because he thinks it would be rude to not go to their wedding seeing as they were at theirs, and Alice because she wants an excuse to put Bella in a dress."

"That sounds like something Alice would do. Is everyone else going?"

"Most likely. I'm sure they would want to see you given the chance. It's too bad they can't say you're their daughter, though. I know Edward would secretly love to rub that in Mike Newton's face." I rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, daddy is more mature than that. He would never walk up to someone and rub his happiness in another person's face." Jacob shook his head.

"Usually no, but not with Mike. Mike had always really liked Bella and it's always annoyed Edward. The chance to rub his marriage in his face is something he'd really love. He'd never admit that, of course."

"And how do you know all this?" Jacob smiled.

"After you were born, Edward and I finally became friends. Having said that, we actually talk to each other now. And I've learned a thing or two about him. One thing being that he's a lot more egotistical than he would ever let on. Bella thinks it's funny. And I won't lie, I get a kick out of it too."

"Sure Jacob. Sure." Jacob looked like he wanted to say more, but instead, he brought his face closer to mine until our lips were only centimeters apart.

"I thought you said you wanted to kiss on the Ferris wheel." I smiled and nodded.

"Indeed I do." Jacob chuckled lightly a moment before our lips met in an immediately passionate kiss.

I opened my mouth for him and our tongues stayed together for several heartbeats. Eventually, Jacob started running his tongue along the roof of my mouth and along all my teeth. I kept my tongue still while he did that, letting my mind get cloudy from the feeling. After a moment of him doing that, I stopped him by sucking on his tongue. Jacob didn't even flinch when my teeth gently bit down on Jacob's tongue and I started sucking. I felt him smile when I did that and his hands moved to my hips and pulled me closer to him. The Ferris wheel did a routine stop to let people on and off, but we didn't pay attention to it.

I kept my hands on Jacob's chest, loving the feel of him even with the layer of cotton covering it. The tank top left his shoulders bare, so that made it all the better. Jacob took his lips away only for a second to change to position of our kiss. When he was back, he took my bottom lip into his mouth and sucked. I did the same to his top lip. My hands trailed the whole time our lips were locked. They went from his chest to his back, then started to wonder lower until they reached the top of his pants. When they were there, I brought my hands to the front and under his tank. I felt a sense of pride when Jacob groaned when my hands touched his bare chest.

His hands traveled all along my butt, hips, and back. When my hands were under his shirt, he pulled me onto his lap effortlessly and brought me all the closer to him. That only forced my hands to go higher up his chest and I was more than willing to go further. Jacob's chest felt as wonderful as it looked. No matter how many times I'd ever touched his bare chest my entire life, it never lost its splendor. His hand traveled along my leg and his other hand went into my hair and caressed my scalp lovingly. I breathed him in as we kissed and tasted him, almost feeling dizzy. My head really started spinning when Jacob's hand moved from my leg and crawled under my two shirts onto my bare waist. I moaned when I felt his hands on my bare skin and I felt him smile against my lips. Our tongues played together and went in every part of each other's mouth that was possible.

When it wasn't possible to be any more thorough, Jacob took his lips away from mine and started kissing along my jaw. My hands, while staying under his shirt, trailed around to his back, trying to hold him closer. My nails brushed his skin and he would squeeze my waist and my ribs, which tickled. His tongue traveled along my jaw after a few kisses and went to my earlobe, which he bit gently and sucked. I knew I was smiling the whole time. I felt that he was too. While Jacob started licking my ear and kissing down my neck, I opened my eyes and looked forward. I realized we would be getting off next, so I took one of my hands from under his shirt and brought it to his cheek to get his attention. I pushed my thoughts into his head knowing there would be no other way to get his attention.

_Jacob, we have to get off next. We better stop._ Jacob groaned lightly in complaint, but he took his lips away from me and took me off his lap.

"Fine. We'll stop." I smiled.

"I'm sorry. We can continue at the hotel." Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"I don't think so. If we do, it would go a lot further." I smiled.

"Would that be so bad?" Jacob smirked.

"I stick with what I told you when we went camping that time. I don't want to risk anything unexpected and Edward would kill me if we did anyway."

"Jacob, the worst unexpected that could happen is me getting pregnant."

"You say it like that wouldn't bother you." I shrugged.

"Not really. I wouldn't mind." Jacob sighed and gave me a weak smile.

"Nessie, I'm not going to let you give up any opportunities because of me. You hear? I want you to be everything you can be. We aren't like most people, Nessie. We have more than enough time to start a family. As long as I keep my wolf, I won't age. And Nahuel and his sisters proved that you aren't aging a day over twenty seven. And I already look twenty seven as it is. So you don't need to feel like you need to speed anything up. Hell, take ten years to become a cardiologist if you want." I shook my head.

"I can't wait that long. Besides, I don't want to be a cardiologist. The idea of being a doctor…." I shuttered. "Yeah." Jacob chuckled.

"What's wrong with being a doctor? Carlisle's a doctor."

"Yes, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life telling people they're sick and inevitably tell their family they're going to die." Jacob shrugged.

"Fair enough. Do you know what you want to be?" The Ferris wheel stopped and we needed to get off. I smiled as we got out and we held hands.

"I want to say I'd be happy just being your wife, but you're not going to let me say that, are you?" Jacob shook his head.

"Sorry, no." I sighed and started thinking. I was graduating this year, so I needed to really think about it anyway.

"I never really thought about it."

"You better start. There's nothing worse than going into college undecided. You end up spending money on classes that may or may not be useful to the major you will eventually choose."

"It's not like we can't afford it."

"True, but why waste your money? I know Mr. Wipes-His-Ass-With-Hundred-Dollar-Bills won't mind, but seriously, Nessie."

"You just said you didn't want me to speed through it."

"I said don't rush things. That doesn't mean waste your time on something you won't need." I smiled and hugged him as we walked away.

"Whatever you say, Jacob." Jacob smiled and hugged me back.

"I love you, Nessie."

"I love you too."

We walked together through Chicago back to the hotel. We remembered how to get back and didn't want to waste money on a cab. The lights in the city were beautiful and seemed to make the evening all the more romantic as we walked together. While we were walking, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. It only vibrated once, so I knew it was a text and could wait. When we got back to the hotel, I checked the text. I smiled and ran over to the bed where Jacob had crashed. Still holding my phone, I hopped onto the bed and cuddled next to Jacob.

"Guess what."

"What?"

"Emmett and Rosalie found a surrogate mother." Jacob finally looked at me and smiled.

"Did they now?" I nodded. "So what do we know about her?"

"Alice says her name is Morgan Karen and, get this," I poked him, "she's an honor student at the University of Oregon."

"And what's her major." I kept smiling.

"Business. So ha. She's not a dip."

"You don't know that. For all you know, she might be book smart but have the common sense of an alcoholic." I rolled my eyes.

"As far as I'm concerned, I've won. You can buy my first pair tomorrow. I'm having an itch to buy some Minolos." Jacob chuckled.

"Okay fine, I'll buy you a pair tomorrow. But if I end up being right, then that counts against you for shoes you can buy for the rest of the year. Agreed?" I smiled, rolled my eyes, and nodded my head into his chest.

"Agreed."

"So when do we get to meet her?"

"As soon as we get back. Alice sent me this text before leaving for Oregon." Jacob's face became serious again and I knew what was coming. "Jacob, she'll be fine, I promise. She'll live through this and leave in one piece with enough money to pay for the rest of college and even buy a house if she wanted."

"I just don't feel right about this. How do we know, business student or not, that she didn't just look at the compensation she would get and completely disregard the description in the ad?"

"We don't, Jacob. I'll admit we don't. But I'm sure that, even if she didn't, she'll understand once we go in depth with what's going on. And if she leaves, she leaves. Rosalie and Emmett will find someone else." Jacob sighed.

"I stick with how I feel about this."

"I know you do and I understand how you feel. All I ask is that you have faith in Carlisle to be able to do this and be able to do this with as few problems as possible." Jacob was silent a moment. I started kissing his chest hoping to soften him. "Please Jacob. Trust me. It will all work out in the end. And who knows. Brian or Embry might imprint on their child." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"I doubt it, Nessie. Me imprinting on you was enough of a pigs fly situation as it is."

"Still Jacob, you never know until it happens."

"Don't count on it, Nessie, that's all I'm saying." I smiled and kissed his chest again.

"Don't think of it as impossible, Jacob, that's all I'm saying." Jacob smiled back and kissed the top of my head. We fell asleep that night holding onto each other, never letting go.

The next day, Jacob and I went to the Field museum and had a good time looking at Sue, the T-Rex skeleton and all the other exhibits they had. We looked at all the stuffed animal exhibits and all the work that was put into remaking their habitat, though it was fake. And we looked at the Egyptian stuff for a long time. The Field museum had an exhibit dedicated entirely to King Tutankhamen. And yet, ironically enough, his mummy wasn't there. His grandma or whatever she was, was there, but that wasn't as exciting. Apparently, they'd had him here once before in 2012, but he went back to tour through Europe after that.

I did enjoy the gift shop. More so than Jacob. Jacob took one look at the price of something that should have been no more than a dollar and dragged me out of the store. When I asked him why, he said he was scared I'd find something I liked. I giggled and let it go. He had lunch in the little food court they had after we'd spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon looking at all the exhibits. He kept me close to him the whole time we were sitting down and he was eating. He always kept one hand free so I could hold it. While Jacob was eating lunch, I received another text from Alice, showing me a picture of Morgan.

"Look." I put my phone in front of Jacob and showed him.

"So that's her." I nodded.

"Yep. That's Morgan Karen. The girl that will be carrying Rosalie's child."

Jacob and I enjoyed the rest of our stay in Chicago a great deal. We went to all the museums and took a tour bus around the city. The Shedd aquarium was my favorite. They actually had a new exhibit that showed deep sea fish like the Angler fish and the Diamond eel. Those two things were without a doubt some of the ugliest fish I'd ever seen. Even the Flounder or the Monk fish was better looking. But seeing them light up was fun. There was even a jelly fish that did a little light show on its skin.

We saved the Magnificent Mile for last. I wanted my last day in Chicago to have a bang. Jacob bought me one pair of shoes like we agreed and I was sure to make them nice. I went easy on him and asked for a pair from Charlotte Russe. But I was sure to buy some Prada while we were there. Normally, Alice has to take me all the way to Seattle to get any brand name shoes, but it's never Prada. Jacob kept pretending to have a heart attack every time I saw a shoe I liked and he looked at the price.

"600 dollars for a pair of shoes? Are you out of your mind?" I only smiled.

"You have to take into account that we're not in Washington where everything is cheaper. This is Chicago."

"Greedy bastards if you ask me. Demanding 600 dollars for a pair of shoes just because some bitch named Prada came up with them." I giggled.

"Some bitched named Prada was a man. Mario Prada."

"You're telling me that a man came up with all this and is charging this much for it?" I nodded. "And I suppose being a proud gay Italian makes him worthy of charging so damn much."

"He charges so much because his stuff is really high quality. It has nothing to do with being gay and Italian. That's just a perk." Jacob looked at me weird a moment, then laughed.

"Why do women love gay men so much?"

"Because Jacob, they're the perfect boyfriends. They tell everything to you straight, they always have the best advice about men and they always tell you you're pretty."

"I tell you you're pretty."

"I know, Jacob, and I'm grateful for that. But unfortunately Jacob, not all women are as lucky as me. Sometimes it feels nice to have a man, even though he's gay, tell you that you look pretty in your mini-skirt, leggings, really cute top from Charlotte Russe, and adorably fabulous Bakers shoes." Jacob looked at me weird again.

"Is there a gay boyfriend I should know about, Nessie?" I shook my head with a smile.

"Sadly, no."

"That was a bit too detailed for someone without." I shrugged.

"I'm just using stuff that Alice said as an example. It's close enough." Jacob smiled and shook his head at me.

"Please don't ever make me buy you Prada."

"Don't worry, Jacob. I won't." I was silent a moment before I figured I'd correct something. "And Mario Prada wasn't gay. He was a married man with children and everything." Jacob shrugged.

"Who am I to argue?" His question was rhetorical, so I didn't respond. I only smiled and shook my head. "I will admit those shoes are cute on you." I smiled wider at him.

"Thank you for saying Jacob." I scooted closer to him and gave him a kiss, which he returned. "I love you, Jacob."

"I love you too, Nessie. I'm glad we had this little vacation."

"Me too."

**Meanwhile back home**

Alice was driving back to Forks from Oregon when she sent the picture to Nessie. Morgan was a tall, lanky looking girl with long, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was bordering on flat as a board but still oddly curvy. Morgan looked really nervous and didn't say much during the whole trip, she was far too nervous to comment on Alice's driving, however erratic she thought it was. Getting tired of the silence, Alice finally talked.

"So tell me, Morgan, are you excited?" Alice knew it was a silly question and saw the response in an instant. But the silence was bothering her so much she just wanted something in the background other than the radio.

"I guess. I'm happy that I'll be able to pay off all my loans and pay for the rest of college." Alice smiled.

"That's always a good thing. And I'm assuming you read the entire ad, right?" Alice already smiled from knowing the answer.

"Yes, I read it. But I'm to understand that you have an excellent doctor that will be able to handle everything. I'm confident you guys will know what to do."

"Believe me, we do. You have nothing to worry about. There are a few things, though, that we need to tell you that weren't in that ad." She looked at Alice surprised.

"Like what?" Alice stayed calm.

"Don't worry. Rosalie and Emmett will explain everything to you once we get to the house. We're almost there anyway."

Morgan was suddenly a lot more nervous, but let it go. She already knew this was going to be a risky job anyway. It wasn't long before Alice turned into the woods and was driving up the trail to the house. When her car was parked in the garage, they were met by everyone. Edward and Bella remained behind Carlisle and Esme while Jasper, Emmett, and especially Rosalie were front and center. Jasper went to Alice and gave her a sweet kiss to welcome her home. Rosalie went to Morgan with a big smile with Emmett behind her, but he was frowning. Morgan looked at him nervously. She noticed Edward roll his eyes about something.

"Welcome, Morgan. I'm Rosalie." She turned and looked at everyone. "This is Emmett. Ignore him, he just doesn't like cats. This is Alice's husband Jasper, that's Carlisle and his wife Esme, and that's Edward and his wife, Bella." Emmett finally spoke, but his question was directed at Alice.

"You didn't have the common decency to warn me that she was bringing a cat?" Alice only rolled her eyes.

"No, because you would have thrown a bitch fit about it. You need to get over this stupid hatred of cats you have. It's pathetic."

"Still, Alice, warn me that she's bringing a god damn cat." Morgan started to feel like she was shrinking.

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't have brought Boots if I'd known you were allergic to cats." Rosalie shook her head.

"He's not allergic to cats, Morgan, he just hates them."

"Oh. Why?"

"Long story short, grandma had a lot of cats, he got attacked, he's hated cats ever since."

"Oh." Rosalie kept smiling at Morgan and took her by the hand to lead her to the house. Morgan was taken aback by the feel of her skin. It was cold and hard like stone. "Your hands are freezing." Rosalie looked guilty suddenly. Morgan began to think she said something she shouldn't have.

"I know. Since you've brought that up, I think we should explain everything else to you that we couldn't explain in the ad." Esme intervened.

"But first, are you hungry or thirsty? I can make you some coffee and some lunch if you like." Morgan smiled at Esme, whom she immediately liked. She was so sweet.

"Some coffee would be nice, thank you. I know I won't be allowed to drink any later, so I'll have my fill while I can." Esme gave her a sweet smile.

"And would you like anything to eat?" Morgan shrugged.

"No, that's alright. I'm still full from lunch." She didn't want to say, but she thought it was odd that Alice hadn't eaten lunch with her. They'd stopped at a Quiznos to get food while Alice filled up the car, but she never ate anything.

"Alright, Morgan. We'll do something nice for dinner." Morgan smiled at Esme and bowed her head slightly.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen." Esme shook her head.

"Please, Morgan, call me Esme." Morgan smiled at Esme and nodded her head. Then Esme looked at Rosalie and Emmett with the same smile. "I think we should let her freshen up before we talk to her any more about this." Carlisle nodded his head.

"Edward and Bella will show you to your room. Take as much time as you need. We'll be waiting downstairs for when you're ready to talk." Edward and Bella smiled at Carlisle, then came forward to escort Morgan to her room.

Morgan, from the moment she'd seen Alice, was stunned by how beautiful these people were. It was like looking at walking, talking airbrushed photos. They were too perfect to be human. To perfect to anything quite frankly. Morgan followed Edward and Bella up a long flight of stairs until they reached the floor they wanted. Then when they got to her room, Edward opened the door and gestured for her to go in first. When she did, she was taken by surprise how large the room was and how pretty it was. Morgan looked over her shoulder at Edward when he started talking.

"This will be your room for the duration of your stay. If you need anything, all you need to do is ask. There's a bathroom for you at the door to your left. Take your time and we'll see you downstairs." When he was done, Edward closed the door to the room and let Morgan have some time alone.

She noticed they seemed to be very private people. Especially Jasper and Bella. And yet both of them were so beautiful, as was everyone else. Then she heard a knock on her door. Morgan gave whoever it was permission to come in and was happy to see Alice and Jasper coming into the room holding all her bags. She thought it bizarre to see such a tiny thing carry three suitcases. Jasper held Morgan's other suitcases and her cat cage. Jasper put her stuff on the couch in the room before walking over to Morgan and handing her the cat. Jasper looked oddly strained and uncomfortable.

"Are you alright, Mr….I mean Jasper?" He nodded awkwardly and handed her the cat.

"Here's your cat Boots. I suggest you keep him far away from Emmett." Morgan sighed.

"Does he hate cats that much." Jasper only rolled his eyes and nodded. "Really, I can send him home if he'll be that much of a problem. I just didn't want to leave him alone with my dorm mate."

"That would be nice, Morgan." She looked around and saw Emmett standing at the doorway with a scowl on his face aimed right at her cat. Morgan was about to agree, but Alice danced in front of her and shook her head.

"Now, Morgan, that won't be necessary. Just keep Boots in your room and he'll be fine, okay. And if you ever run out of cat food, let us know, and we'll get it for you." Morgan smiled at Alice and nodded.

"Thank you Alice." Alice smiled back and hugged her.

"You're welcome, Morgan." Then she looked at Boots in his cage and smiled. "You too, Boots." Morgan giggled and thanked them one more time before they left the room to let her freshen up.

Morgan took her time to get ready. She let Boots out of his cage and took a quick nap with him in her arms. When she woke up, the sun was down, but it was raining now. She suddenly missed Oregon. It didn't rain nearly as much there. She forced herself out of bed and brought Boots with her downstairs. She knew there was more they wanted to explain to her and she was nervous. Holding Boots would make her feel better. When she got downstairs, Emmett and Rosalie were sitting on the couch waiting for her. They were in the living room that didn't have the wide screen. She saw Emmett glare at her cat, but she tried to ignore that.

"I'm sorry. Holding Boots calms me down." Emmett took a deep breath and didn't say another word. Rosalie looked at him, then looked at Morgan again.

"Well, Morgan, now that you're settled in, I think there are a few things we need to explain to you."

"I already know this could be a risky pregnancy." Rosalie nodded.

"I know. But you don't know why." Morgan remained quiet as she waited for her to explain. "You see, Morgan, the reason this pregnancy could be dangerous is because……..well…..we're not exactly…human." Morgan looked at Rosalie and Emmett confused.

"What?" Rosalie sighed.

"We're not human. We're……..vampires." Morgan's eyes widened, then she started blinking her eyes repeatedly as if trying to clear her head.

"I'm sorry, I think I just hallucinated. What?" Rosalie and Emmett looked at each other for an instant really concerned. Then Rosalie looked at Morgan again with the same look of concern.

"We're vampires. Our entire family. That's why we sent an ad for a surrogate mother. Emmett and I can't have a child together naturally. We need to put Emmett's DNA into a blank human sperm cell and have that fertilize one of my eggs and we need the baby to grow in a human body. The baby will be half human, but it will be vampire too. That's why this pregnancy is risky for you." Morgan was quiet for a long time. She wasn't sure what to say. This was outrageous news to hear.

"Wow. I was wondering why you were offering 800,000 dollars for compensation." Emmett nodded.

"Look, we understand if you would rather not go through with this. But the fact of the matter is that Rosalie and I have wanted a child for a long time. She never wanted this life. It was forced on her. And any hope of having a family was taken from her when she was changed. Now we finally found a way that we could have a family and we will stop at nothing to make it happen. But don't think that means you have to do this. If you decide you don't want to do be our surrogate mother, then we'll pay for the inconvenience and keep looking for someone." Morgan stayed silent again. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation. She wasn't even sure she believed what Rosalie and Emmett were telling her.

"There's no such thing as vampires. Vampires are made up creatures in movies and books." Rosalie shook her head.

"That's what we all thought before we became this way." Morgan started shaking her head lightly.

"Okay….let's pretend….for argument's sake, that you really are vampires. How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep or something?"

"We won't. We hunt animals, not humans. You have nothing to fear from us. And you'd only be pregnant for two weeks, so you won't be here for long." Morgan's eyes widened again.

"Two weeks? That's not possible. That's not enough time for a child to grow."

"Not for a human. But for the child you'd be carrying, it is." Morgan didn't say anything. She still didn't believe what she was being told. Emmett continued.

"While carrying the child, you'd need to drink blood." Morgan's eyes shot open and stared at Emmett.

"Excuse me?"

"We have donated blood to use for it. I know it seems gross to you right now, but when carrying the child, it won't be so bad. We promise, we all have experience with this and know exactly what we're doing." Rosalie continued.

"We'll double the price if you want, but please. I don't know how much longer I can take waiting. You don't have to do this. But I was hoping that would."

"Please think about it. We know this is a lot to take in. If you want a raise in the price, you got it. If you don't want to do it, then Alice will take you back home and you'll get a quarter of the original price. It's up to you."

Morgan didn't say a word. She stared at them both completely speechless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Normally, she would think they were just a cult or something. But there was no way they would lie and pay so much money. What they were offering was a lot of money. She'd be able to pay off all her loans and pay for the rest of college and still have plenty of money left over to buy her own place and be stable until she found a good job. It was an offer that only a fool would pass up. But at the same time, from what they were telling her, there was a chance she wouldn't live to enjoy the fruits of her labor. Morgan kept stroking Boots, hoping it would make her feel better. She heard him start purring, so she knew he was happy at least. Finally, Morgan took a deep breath and let it out before talking again.

"This is a lot to think about." Rosalie nodded her head.

"I know. Take your time. This is a lot to consider. And Carlisle won't do anything unless he knows for sure that you're okay with this and know exactly what you're getting into. And I'm sure you anticipated to be gone for nine months, so you have plenty of time to think this over. As long as you're here, you're a guest and will be treated as such." Morgan smiled weakly and nodded her head.

"Thank you, Rosalie. Emmett. I'll think about it."

"And remember, if you want more money, just say so." Morgan shook her head.

"No, I won't ask for that. What you're offering is an outrageous amount as it is. I could never demand more."

"Whatever you decide, we'll be waiting for your answer." Emmett said in a calm voice. He looked like he was desperately trying to ignore something. Namingly the cat.

"Thank you." With that, Morgan went up to her room and closed the door behind her when she was there. She laid in bed with Boots in her arms, petting him, trying to think. Esme brought her some dinner, for which she thanked her.

"Carlisle knows what he's doing. If you choose to help Emmett and Rosalie, you have nothing to fear." Morgan smiled at Esme.

"I know. Thank you, Esme." Esme smiled sweetly at Morgan before leaving the room and giving her some privacy.

Morgan slept that night a lot better than she thought she would. When she woke up that morning, she thought a little more about it. Carlisle looked like he was a good doctor. And she couldn't imagine that they would risk someone's life like this and not be sure to know what they were doing. By the time it was noon, she came to a decision about what she should do. Holding Boots in her arms, she walked back downstairs where Rosalie and Emmett were waiting for her with smiles on their faces. Edward and Bella were standing there too. Carlisle, Jasper, Esme, and Alice weren't there. When she walked up to Emmett and Rosalie, they walked closer to her but stayed quiet for her answer.

"I've given your offer a great deal of thought." They remained silent, but eager. "And I've decided that, given the circumstances for the both of you, you deserve to have a child. So I'll be your surrogate mother. And seeing as you promise the pregnancy will only be a few weeks, I will agree to give you multiple children if you wish, but I would like a little extra if that be the case."

Rosalie, who was already shining a smile, closed the distance between her and Morgan and hugged her. Morgan was once gain taken aback by the feel of her hard, cold skin, but didn't flinch away from her this time. When Rosalie was done hugging, she held onto Morgan's arms and held her in her sight.

"You have no idea what you're doing for me." Rosalie kissed her cheek. "Thank you. Really, thank you." Morgan smiled and nodded her head. Oddly enough, they didn't look all that surprised that Morgan agreed to do it, but she let that go. Emmett walked to her and patted her back.

"Thanks Morgan. We promise, you'll be fine. I assume you know what Invitro is right?" Morgan nodded. "Well, that's pretty much what we'll be doing. And we'll need to use multiple fertilized eggs to make sure it takes. So if you end up pregnant with more than one, we'll compensate you for them."

"Thank you, Emmett. I'm happy to be of help to you guys." That's when Carlisle walked down the stairs and smiled at Morgan.

"We'll start whenever you're ready." Morgan smiled.

"Whenever you guys are ready is alright by me." Rosalie smiled wider.

"How about now?"

A little note to my readers. While I was writing this story and had Emmett and Rosalie's soon to be child/or children (I'm still debating that) an idea for a mini story came to my mind. I thought it would be fun to write a little fanfic for the Volturi children. It wouldn't be very long. I plan on writing about their childhood up to the point where they run away from Volterra and seek help from the Cullens. It's a for sure story in the making, so be on the lookout if you're interested in reading it. I haven't decided what it will be called, but look out for a description that says anything about the Volturi spawn. It won't be published until it's completely finished, so expect it within the next few months if you're interested in reading it.


	12. Long Awaited

**Long Awaited**

When Jacob and I got back home from Chicago, momma and daddy were there to greet us. They helped us get our luggage and take it to Jacob's car that was in the long term use lot. When we had everything, they told us they'd see us at the house and went to their car in another lot. Jacob and I took our time driving back to the house. We wanted to talk a little more and be alone a little longer before meeting Morgan.

When we got home, momma and daddy were already back at the house. Jacob helped me get all my suitcases back to the cottage and helped me unpack everything. When my stuff was put away, Jacob and I walked hand in hand back to the house to meet Morgan. While we were gone, Carlisle had preformed the Invitro and she was two days pregnant. Carlisle needed to give her at least four eggs to make sure at least one of the eggs would take, so we weren't sure how many there could be. For all we know, all four could take or just one. When we got to the house, Rosalie, Emmett and a girl with long brown hair were sitting on the couch. Momma and daddy were in the music room I knew, because I heard the piano playing. Alice and Jasper were in the living room playing cards with Esme. Carlisle was in the TV room with Rosalie, Emmett, and Morgan, keeping a close eye on her as promised. Rosalie looked in our direction when daddy called to her and told her we were back. She smiled and took Morgan's hand and took her with to us. Emmett came too.

"Welcome home, Nessie. How was Chicago?" I figured Rosalie was in a good mood, but it was more so than I thought it would be. Her smile spread from ear to ear and her eyes seemed to sparkle. Emmett looked happy, but I think he was happy that Rosalie was happy. I think he could go with or without children, but if children were what would make Rosalie happy, then he wanted them too.

"It was great. We saw everything." She nodded.

"It's been a long time since we've been to Chicago. If we ever went, it was during the winter. More overcast days." Jacob smiled at Rosalie.

"You're in a good mood. How's Morgan progressing?" Rosalie smiled at Morgan then back at Jacob.

"So far so good. She hasn't suffered any morning sickness yet."

"That's strange. Wasn't Bella getting it by the first or second day?" Rosalie nodded.

"Carlisle thinks she might just be one of the lucky few women that don't get morning sickness. But human food tastes bad to her, so we know she's making progress." Morgan smiled and I finally looked at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm Nessie, Rosalie's niece. This is my boyfriend, Jacob. It's nice to finally meet you." She smiled and shook mine and Jacob's hands.

"It's nice to finally meet you too. Rosalie and Alice showed me all your baby pictures. They wanted to show me how this baby would progress once it was born. And I have to say, you're one of the cutest babies I've ever seen." I smiled.

"I know what you mean." I looked at Jacob and poked him. Morgan looked at him.

"So you two are dating now?" Jacob and I nodded. "And how much older than her are you?" Jacob and I laughed a little.

"I turned eighteen the year she was born."

"And that makes you twenty two now?" Jacob nodded.

"I turn twenty three this December. Nessie turns five this September. But in my defense, she looks anything but five." She laughed shyly to herself and so did I. By now, I already looked like I could be nineteen. From what Nahuel was telling me, I would go through one last growth spurt, but that growth spurt was a lot more significant for him than it was for his sisters.

"That's not an odd age difference." Her sarcastic tone was teasing, so we laughed with her. Carlisle came into the conversation with a smile.

"Oh Morgan, that's nothing. Edward's eighty eight years older than Bella. I'm over three hundred years older than Esme and Jasper's over a hundred years older than Alice."

"But you're vampires. Age hardly counts for anything." We laughed a little.

"I suppose. But my father, when I was human, was more than twenty years older than my mother."

"But weren't you human in the sixteen hundreds?" He smiled and nodded.

"Yes."

"So getting married with that much of an age difference wasn't odd back then."

"No. But in Jacob and Nessie's case, it really isn't all that odd. She's growing fast and won't age over her late twenties. And as long as Jacob keeps fazing, he's not aging either." Jacob looked at Carlisle surprised.

"You told her about the pack?" Carlisle nodded.

"We weren't going to, but Seth and the others came over to meet Morgan and she saw Paul as his wolf." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Dumbass." Morgan smiled.

"I bet you wouldn't say that if he weren't your brother-in-law." Jacob looked at her a moment, then smiled.

"They really filled you in, didn't they?" Morgan nodded.

"Yeah, they did." Jacob smiled and shook his head gently. "But don't worry, I heard a lot of good things about you."

"I'd hope so." She smiled at Jacob and they had a small laugh. "So does that mean you know that I'm not the only one who imprinted on a younger person?" She nodded.

"Yeah, I heard about Quil and Claire. How old is she now?"

"Just turned eight."

"How old is Quil?"

"Twenty two. Same age as me." She smiled.

"I envy the love at first sight thing. I wish it were that easy for me." Jacob smiled.

"It does make things a lot easier most of the time, yes." Morgan and Jacob shared one last smile before we ended that conversation. We walked with them back to the couch in the TV room and talked to Morgan a little longer. On the way, I looked at Jacob with a teasing look and touched his hand.

_Remember, that's five pairs of shoes you owe me._ Jacob gave me a teasing glare and squeezed my hand. "So, Morgan, is there anyone special in your life right now?" She shook her head.

"No, not right now. I always have a hard time finding someone." I gave her a surprised look.

"How? You're so pretty."

"I'm picky." We had a small laugh together and she shook her head at herself. "My last boyfriend was a Law major with a minor in biology."

"That sounds promising. What was wrong with him?" She gave me a guilty smile.

"He was so critical of everything. No matter what happened or how little something was, he would blow up about it. That's probably why he'll make such a good lawyer." We laughed together again.

"That's not being picky, Morgan. That's being cautious. There's nothing wrong with dumping a guy because he's an ass." Rosalie gently smacked my hand for my choice of words and Emmett chuckled to himself. Jacob smirked at me, then he looked at Emmett and Rosalie with a more relaxed smile.

"So, Emmett, Rosalie, have you come up with a name for the baby?" Emmett and Rosalie both smiled.

"I was thinking Oliver for a boy." Emmett looked at Rosalie.

"I told you I don't want to name our son Oliver." Morgan spoke next.

"Why not? Oliver's a cute name. And I love Oliver and company." Emmett gave Morgan a blank look and Rosalie looked at her. "What did I do?"

"You associated the name with a cat. Now I'll never be able to sell him on the name." We all sighed.

"Well, it might not even be a boy. It might be a girl."

"But I want a boy." Rosalie looked at Emmett with an annoyed expression.

"It might be a boy, it might be a girl. You never know." Emmett's face became a look of stubborn confidence.

"It's gonna be a boy."

"It might be a girl, Emmett."

"Nope, it's gonna be a boy." Rosalie rolled her eyes and let the subject go.

"I take that as a no?" Jacob asked. Rosalie sighed.

"No, we haven't decided on any names yet."

"And you only have two weeks to come up with something. That's a bummer." Rosalie sighed again, then looked at Morgan.

"You finished off that cup fast." Morgan smiled shyly.

"Yeah. I hope this liking for blood passes as soon as I'm not pregnant anymore." Emmett shrugged.

"Well, unfortunately, we don't have any records of women living through it to be human, so I'm afraid we can't say." Morgan's face went pale.

"Please don't remind me of that." Jacob's eyes widened.

"You told her that?" Carlisle nodded.

"I told her that. It's only fair she knows what she's getting into." Morgan smiled gratefully at Carlisle. Then Rosalie got up and took Morgan's cup to fill it up with the donated blood in the fridge.

"So when will you be able to tell what gender the baby is?" Morgan asked Carlisle innocently. Carlisle gave Morgan his doctor expression and kept his voice all business.

"Unfortunately, we won't know until the baby's born. We won't even know how many if more than one babies you're carrying until they're born. The amniotic sack is too thick and hard for us to be able to tell." Morgan smiled and nodded in understanding.

"That's the ultimate surprise." Carlisle nodded.

"And we'll be doing a C-Section when you go into labor anyway, so you won't have to worry about that." Morgan smiled again and Rosalie came back with a large cup of blood and handed it to Morgan. Morgan nursed the contents of the cup trying to make it last.

Jacob and I stayed at the house and talked to Morgan for the rest of the afternoon. Around nine, Jacob gave me a kiss and left to go on patrol with the others. I went back to the cottage with momma and daddy shortly after that. I was tired from the plane ride home and I was eager to get some sleep. While we walked together, momma and daddy asked me about mine and Jacob's trip. I told them about all the places Jacob and I went to and thanked daddy for the Anniversary Suit again. I told him a little about the conversation Jacob and I had about what it would be like in the future when we had a daughter. Daddy chuckled and agreed that his future granddaughter really would be treated like a princess when she came along.

When we got to the cottage, momma and daddy kissed me good night and stayed in the living room. Daddy started a fire in the fireplace and they spent some time together. I went to the bathroom and went about my nightly routine and got dressed for bed. When I got to bed, I looked at my phone and realized I had a text. I looked at it and realized it was from Aida. I hadn't heard from her since the end of the school year and I was eager to talk to her.

_Guess where I went for my summer vacation_. After reading the text, I answered.

_I don't know. I went to Chicago._ I got a response ten minutes later.

_Awesome. My family and I went to, are you ready for this, Austria._ My eyes widened and it took me a moment to answer.

_Why would you go to Austria after what happened?_

_We went after they announced the werewolves were all dead. When we went, they were disposing of the bodies. I got to see a large pile of werewolves get burned. The area reeked of wet dog. It was the most fucking awesome thing I'd ever seen in my whole mother fucking life. The shit. I videotaped it and posted it on youtube and everything._ I laughed a little when I read that.

_Figures you would enjoy seeing something like that. Did Coralline go with you guys?_

_No. She didn't believe they were all dead. She made up a paper she needed to do or some shit like that. So how was Chicago?_

_It was great. Jacob and I had a great trip._

_Oh, this was you and Jacob. Do I sense a nice little romantic get away?_ I sighed to myself before answering.

_Yes, it was a romantic trip for us. But nothing happened, so get your head out of the gutter while you're ahead._

_You're fucking kidding me! You two get away from friends and family, probably stayed in a gorgeous hotel room, had all those romantic activities to do that Chicago offers, and you two still haven't fucked? You're hopeless, Nessie._ I sighed again.

_Must you be so crude?_

_Yes, I must. _

_Just because you're not a virgin doesn't mean I can't be one._

_I never said you can't be one, that's not for me to decide. I just find it strange that you two, I'm assuming, are sharing a hotel room and nothing happened._

_If it makes you feel better, there was plenty of almost happened, and Jacob was always the one to stop it._

_Jacob was the one to stop it?!! Are you sure he's not gay._ I rolled my eyes.

_Yes, I'm sure he's not gay! We wouldn't have a whole bunch of almost moments if he was gay._

_Bisexual perhaps?_

_NO!!!_

_Lol. Alright, alright, I'll stop. But I assume you guys had a great time?_

_Yes. We had a wonderful time. I can't wait 'til we get a chance to do it again._

_That's good. We should do something. We haven't hung out in a long time._

_I know. What should we do?_

_If you're willing to give me your address, I could come to your house and we could play with a Ouija board._ I smiled and rolled my eyes.

_I'm not sure my grandpa or dad would want a Ouija Board in the house._ I heard dad huff to himself at what I wrote. I took that as a confirmation of what I was saying.

_Why not?_

_Because, for starters, Carlisle isn't fond of the idea of evil spirits in his house, same thing with daddy, and Rosalie will think it's bad luck and cause her to lose the baby._ After I sent that text, I slapped my forehead for what I wrote. I hadn't intended to tell her about that right away. Five minutes later, I got a text in response to mine.

_Baby? What baby? Vampires can't have babies…..can they?_

_No, they can't have babies on their own. We're using a surrogate mother. We put Emmett's DNA into a blank sperm cell and used that to fertilize Rosalie's egg and a girl name Morgan agreed to carry the child for her._

_GREAT MOTHER FUCKER BITCH FIT!!! Dude, congratulations to Rosalie and Emmett. _

_I thought you hated kids._

_I do. But just because I hate kids doesn't mean I can't be happy for your aunt and uncle. My god, that's gonna be a beautiful baby._ I giggled under my breath.

_I know, right. _

_Dude, now you have to let me over. I want to meet the chick brave enough to birth a vampire._

_You've already met my mom._

_Lol. True. I want to meet the girl brave enough to carry a vampire baby that isn't hers._

_I can show you that. I'll come pick you up and bring you over tomorrow._ I waited to send the text for daddy to make an objection known. Daddy didn't say anything, so I sent the text.

_What time?_

_Noon okay?_

_Yep, that's awesome. See you tomorrow._

_See you tomorrow._ I put my phone back on the bed stand and tried to fall asleep. When I woke up, Jacob was sitting next to my bed running his fingers through my hair. I looked at the time and sighed when it said eleven thirty.

"Morning, Nessie."

"Morning, Jacob."

"Is something wrong?" I shook my head.

"I over slept is all. I'm supposed to pick Aida up at noon and bring her here. We haven't seen each other since school let out."

"Ah. Is Edward okay with her coming over?"

"He didn't say anything when I was texting Aida, so I assumed he was okay with it." Jacob shrugged.

"That usually means he is." I smiled and lifted myself up from the bed.

"Would you come with me to get her?" Jacob shrugged.

"Sure. I haven't seen her in forever either." I smiled.

"As I recall, the last time you two really talked to each other, you threatened to eat her." Jacob chuckled.

"Well, in all fairness, she was provoking me." I giggled and caressed Jacob's cheek.

"She does that." Jacob smiled and walked away so I could step out of bed and get myself ready for the day. Jacob waited for me in the living room while I got ready. When I was done, we ran to the house and to my car and drove to Aida's house.

**RPOV**

We all heard Nessie and Jacob leave the house while we were in the kitchen with Morgan. She'd woken up an hour ago and was really hungry. We gave her the donated blood and watched her carefully nurse it. After all that time, the cup was only a third of the way empty. She was showing signs of pregnancy already. She was starting to get a little bump on her tummy and I even felt the baby nudge a few times. I was happy to see that the baby was so active. Every time I put my hand on Morgan's stomach and applied enough pressure, the baby would give me a tender little nudge. My face lit up every time I felt it. Emmett smile when he finally got a chance to feel it.

"That's our son, Rosalie. Can you believe it?" I smiled.

"Our son or daughter." Emmett chuckled and didn't even bother to argue. He wasn't even complaining about Morgan's cat anymore. Morgan was holding and petting Boots most of the time. She said that petting the cat made her feel more relaxed.

Carlisle and Esme never seemed to leave Morgan's side the whole time. Carlisle was keeping a close eye on her and Esme was eager to see how Morgan progressed. After a few days, she even started talking to Carlisle about them doing this. It was joking at first, but then she started to seriously ask. Carlisle was really reluctant about the idea. As of now, he hadn't given Esme and answer or a hint as to what he was thinking. And Edward wasn't telling Esme anything because Carlisle had mentally demanded he let this be between him and Esme. Other than Morgan, we all stayed out of it. But Morgan thought she would add something.

"You know, Carlisle." Carlisle looked up at Morgan from her belly and stethoscope to look at her. I was standing next to her holding her hand.

"Yes, Morgan?"

"If you and Esme are seriously considering doing this yourself, I'm willing to do it for you. I mean, I would like a bit more compensation for the extra baby, but I'll do it for you. I need all the money I can get if I'll ever be able pay off my student loans." Carlisle's face remained professional, but his voice was a little more serious than before.

"It's more than just not being able to find a surrogate mother, Morgan. There's a lot more to it." Morgan gave him a confused look.

"I never took you for a man that didn't like kids." Carlisle shook his head.

"It's not that I don't like kids. I would love for me and Esme to have children."

"Then why don't you?" I was the one to ask that. I was curious. Carlisle sighed after he looked at me and reluctantly answered our question.

"When Esme was human, she'd been pregnant a few times. A previous marriage. But Charles was abusive, so she suffered a great deal of miscarriages. When she left him after seven years of marriage, she was pregnant again and was finally able to give birth to her child. She named him after me. He looked like his father, but had enough of Esme in him that it made up for it. But a month after he was born, he died of SIDS." Morgan's face was apologetic.

"That's so sad. I'm sorry." Carlisle shook his head.

"Don't be. This happened long before you were even thought of. Before your grandparents were even thought of, I suspect. But she took it really hard. She tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge with her son in her arms. She would have died if I hadn't found her." Carlisle's face turned from serious to marginally pained, but the pain was well hidden. "I don't want to risk putting her through that again. Half vampire or not, something could always go wrong. And I don't think either I, or Esme, could handle something like that." Morgan face remained in an apologetic smile. I decided to let the matter drop. I figured if Esme really wanted a baby, she would convince him to be willing to take the risk.

As Carlisle was giving Morgan and the baby a checkup, Carlisle and I heard Nessie's car drive up from picking up Aida. From what they were talking about, Aida was eager to meet Morgan and see how the whole process worked. I was surprised Edward had let her talk to Aida about this. In truth, I was surprised he was even allowing Nessie to tell the girl anything about us at all. I wasn't thrilled with the idea at all, but no one ever listens to my opinion anyway. After a moment, we heard Nessie, Aida, and Jacob walking up the stairs to Carlisle's study where we were. When they were upstairs, Aida opened the door and let herself in and jogged over to us. Nessie and Jacob were walking behind her hand in hand.

"So this is the infamous Morgan Karen that I've heard so much about." Morgan smiled awkwardly at Aida, but gave Aida her hand in greeting.

"Yeah, that's me." Aida gave Morgan an odd smile that creped me out. It was sort of a half smile that she looked as if she was trying to fight.

"So is the little bugger kicking yet?" Morgan nodded. I was the one to answer her, though.

"The baby kicks ever time you put your hand on him." Aida's smile widened slightly.

"So we know it's a boy?" I shook my head.

"No. We don't know. But Emmett's insisting that it will be a boy, so that's what we call the baby." I smiled politely at her. "You do realize we've never met before, right?" Aida's face became minimally apologetic.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Aida Mathews. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise. I knew your sister. She was nice." Aida smiled a little more when I mentioned Coralline.

"Well, boy or girl, this baby's going to be a beauty." Then Aida finally looked at Carlisle and gave him the same smile she gave me. "Hi. You must be Carlisle, Nessie's grandpa." Carlisle nodded.

"Yes. And you must be Aida, Nessie's creepy and nosey atheist friend." We all laughed quietly. Morgan didn't though. I think she simply didn't know enough to find the joke funny.

"Technically, I worship the devil, but yeah, that's me." Carlisle nodded his head a little, then looked at Nessie with a stern look. His way of telling her to take Aida out of the house I suspect.

Nessie smiled shyly and apologetically before taking Aida's hand and pulling her with her out of the room. Jacob patted me on the back, to my surprise, and left with Nessie and Aida. I heard them leave the house and start walking to the cottage. When they were out of the room, Carlisle's face lost some of its professionalism that it'd had and sighed.

"You know, when I was Nessie's age, they burned devil worshipers in the middle of town square and made examples of them." I shrugged.

"And when you were Nessie's age, everyone thought the world was flat." Morgan smiled at my joke and so did Carlisle.

"We did not. We'd discovered America by then. Europe knew the earth was round." I smiled at him and was laughing lightly to myself.

Shortly after Carlisle finished Morgan's checkup, Emmett came back with Edward and Jasper from hunting. Morgan and I were sitting together on the couch watching the news. She was nursing a new cup of blood trying to make it last. I was spending most of that time forcing myself to ignore the smell of the blood by rubbing her belly and feeling my baby kick. Emmett came and sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"So Aida's here." I nodded.

"Yes, she's here. I assume you said hi to her."

"Actually, she sort of said hi to us. She'd already met Edward, but she'd never met me or Jasper. So on our way to the house, she ran out to see us."

"And did she scare you as much as she scared me?" Emmett was silent a moment.

"She's not the scariest thing I've ever seen." I smiled and poked Emmett's chest. "I don't know. She seems nice enough."

"I never said she wasn't nice. I just said she scared me." Morgan smiled while Emmett chuckled.

"I didn't think anything could scare you, baby." I rolled my eyes and poked Emmett's chest again. He only smiled and kissed my neck.

Aida ended up staying for most of the day. Esme made her dinner since she'd stayed that long. Nessie sat with Aida and Jacob while they ate and Nessie snatched one of the containers of donated blood and had that for dinner. Nessie asked if she could stay at Jacob's apartment before leaving to take Aida home. Edward gave his permission and Nessie, Jacob and Aida were gone shortly after that. They took Jacob's car which had been left their since the day before. Morgan fell asleep on the couch again at eight. She used to stay up late, but pregnancy has made her have half the energy she'd had before, and consequently, always tired. Emmett and I took her upstairs to Edward's old room and tucked her in before leaving to do something else. While we were walking away, Emmett took a hold of my hand and stopped me where I was standing.

"Do you want to go hunting?" I gave him a confused look.

"But you already went hunting." He nodded.

"I know. But you haven't fed in a while. Besides, I want to have some alone time with you. You and I haven't had a moment alone in days." He was smiling seductively at me now. I smiled back at him teasingly.

"Have we?" He nodded. "Well that's a shame."

"You don't mind remedying that, do you?" I giggled.

"Not at all. Let's be back before morning though. I want to feel our baby kick some more." Emmett smiled and nodded his head before kissing my forehead.

He grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled me with him down the stairs and out of the house and into the woods where he and the others had come back from. I followed Emmett deep into the woods and attacked a bear that he'd found and immediately felt better as soon as I drank the beast's blood, the burn in my throat finally gone. Emmett sat back the whole time while I quenched my thirst with a wide smile on his face. When the bear was drained of blood, I stood above it and had to sigh contentedly. Then Emmett wrapped his arms around me from behind and held me to him tightly.

"Better?" I nodded.

"Much better. Thanks for that Emmett." Emmett started kissing my neck as he spoke.

"I'm glad to see you this happy. I haven't seen you this happy since we got married." I smiled and turned in his arms to face him.

"It's finally happening, Emmett. I never thought we'd be able to, but now we can and will. We're finally going to be a family." Emmett smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Yeah. I'm glad to finally give you what you've always wanted, Rosalie." Emmett kissed my lips quickly before speaking again. "Will you be happy with just one or two? I know you always wanted a big family." I smiled at him lovingly and nodded.

"A single child is better than none at all." Emmett smiled wider at me and kissed my nose. "And I want them to look like you." Emmett gave me a proud smile.

"Well, between you and me, that son of ours is going to be one hell of a lady killer." I smiled wider.

"Well, what if it's a girl? I'm sure a lot of boys are going to think she's beautiful." Emmett gave me an evil stare.

"Sorry, Rose, but by the small chance we have a girl, any boy that has the audacity to think he's good enough for my little girl will have to win me over first." I giggled and cuddled my face into his chest and tightened my grip around his waist.

"You're going to be a wonderful father, Emmett." Emmett nuzzled my head and kissed me.

"And you're going to be a wonderful mother, Rosalie." I felt like I would cry. I couldn't remember a time when I was so happy.

"I love you, Emmett." I felt his grip on me tighten.

"I love you too, Rosalie." Finally, he brought his face from atop my head and looked at me before giving me a sweet, loving kiss.

I opened my lips for him soon after we started kissing. His tongue delved in and met mine with a sweet passion that made me shake. My hands trailed up and started pulling at the strands of his curly short hair. His hands went straight down my back, over my butt, and onto my thighs where he pulled me up and crossed my legs around his waist. When I was secure, his hands started traveling up my back and kept moving the whole time we were kissing. His tongue moved around my mouth until there was nowhere else to explore. When he'd touched every part of my mouth multiple times, he started kissing along my jaw to my ear where he swirled his tongue around and around the inside of my ear.

"Can I ask a favor?" I nodded and moaned when he bit my ear. "Just cause we have a baby, let's not turn into one of those couples that never make time for each other." I nodded again.

"I wouldn't allow it." He chuckled and bit my earlobe again.

"I'm happy to hear it." We laughed lightly together before he started kissing down my neck again.

His hands moved all over and eventually moved under my shirt and undid my bra and tried to get everything off. When that was off, I moved my hands to his pants and started playing with those and trying to get him out of those. Emmett and I made love in the woods until we saw the first light. We never parted, not even for air. We didn't need air, so why part for it? I was coming down from one of many flights to the sky with Emmett heavy on me when I saw the sun start to peek out from the horizon. Emmett was kissing my chest again while we recovered and I scratched my nails down his back in an attempt to get his attention while our heads were out of the clouds.

"Emmett." He only groaned as he kissed all along my neck, chest and collarbone, acknowledging that he heard me and that he was listening to me. "We better get back. The sun's starting to come up." Emmett sighed a little.

"I think Morgan will be fine for a few more hours." I shook my head while petting his hair.

"No, Emmett. It's been hours since the last time I felt our baby kick and I'm starting to miss him." Emmett smiled and chuckled.

"Alright, Rose. Let's go back." I smiled at him gratefully as he pulled me up and handed me all my clothes. When we were both dressed, we walked together hand in hand back to the house. As we walked together, Emmett kissed my hand and started talking. "So do we know what we're going to name the baby yet." I groaned to myself.

"No." Emmett only smiled and kissed my hand again. "Nothing seems right."

"How about naming him after me?" I shook my head.

"No, Emmett. That only leads to a whole bunch of legal inconveniences. Like mail trouble and so on." Emmett smiled.

"Alright, baby, if you say so. But we don't have much time before the baby's born. Normally, couples have nine months to think it through. We only have a week and a half left." I sighed.

"I know, I know. But every time I think of a name, it just doesn't sound good enough." Emmett smiled and kissed my head.

"Don't worry, Rosalie. When we see him, the right name will jump out at us."

"You really think so?" Emmett chuckled.

"No. I'm hoping that will be the case." We laughed together and walked the rest of the way back to the house in silence. When we got back, Morgan was still asleep. Carlisle was with her in her room monitoring her and making sure the baby was alright. I ran right up to her room and was petting her belly anticipating a kick. So far, the kicks weren't strong enough to break anything or cause bruising, but we were hoping we wouldn't have to worry about that.

Later, when Morgan finally woke up, he started telling the baby a story while Morgan was drinking blood for breakfast. Emmett was telling the baby a little hunting story from when he was human. He and his two brothers had been out hunting with their dad and Emmett had accidentally shot a propane tank and blown up that person's yard. I felt the baby start to kick when he finished that story. Edward still couldn't hear the baby's thoughts yet, but he promised he'd tell us the minute he could hear them.

Nessie and Jacob came back to the house around noon that day. Esme offered to make Jacob some lunch, but he told her Nessie already made him something at his place. We all spent the day together either talking to each other or watching TV. Esme had snatched Carlisle for a time during the day telling him that she wanted to talk to him when Morgan was asleep later that day. They agreed to talk in his study that night when Morgan was asleep. I had a feeling I knew what they were going to talk about. It was relatively obvious. Edward's reaction was all the proof I needed. When Esme had pulled Carlisle aside, Edward had a very concerned, cautious look on his face the whole time. With them waiting to talk until Morgan was asleep, Esme seemed all the more eager to get Morgan back to bed. She started asking if she was tired around seven that night. She didn't finally go to sleep until ten that night. Jacob had left an hour before that to go on patrol for the night. As soon as she was asleep and Carlisle had done a few more checks, Esme pulled Carlisle with her to his study and they didn't come out until morning. We all avoided listening to their conversation. Just because Edward couldn't ignore then didn't mean we couldn't.

The only part of the conversation we did hear was when Carlisle told Esme, "We'll wait and see how everything turns out". Edward looked torn on the matter after they were done talking. Bella looked like she really wanted to ask Edward about it, but she kept it to herself. Nessie had fallen asleep on the couch with us not wanting to leave the house. The next morning, Morgan came downstairs thirsty for more of the donated blood. Nessie was awake by then and had a little with her. Carlisle stayed close to Morgan and was always listening for anything that might go wrong. Edward was waiting for when he'd be able to hear what the baby was thinking. But for now, there weren't any real thoughts.

After two more days, Edward started hearing thoughts. He noticed that they all sounded different. He confirmed that there was more than one child, but he wasn't sure how many there were. Emmett and I swelled up with joy when he told us there was more than one baby. I started to hope that maybe I would get a large family after all. Emmett and I started talking to them a lot more when Edward could finally hear their thoughts. Emmett told them stories and Edward would tell us what their reaction was aside from the obvious kicking we always felt. Morgan seemed to be getting more and more tired the longer she was pregnant. By the time she was due in the next three days, she almost did nothing but sleep.

"Only three more days, Rose." I smiled at Emmett as we were lying down on either side of Morgan while she was sleeping with our hands over her pregnant belly. I felt overwhelmed, but in a good way.

"I can hardly believe it, Emmett." He brushed his hand onto mine.

"I know, right? It feels so sudden." I nodded.

"I'm glad. After all those years, I'm not sure I could ever tolerate waiting a whole nine months to finally have my baby. I'm glad we didn't have to wait so long." Emmett only smiled and took my hand to his lips and gave my hand a loving kiss. After that, we petted Morgan's belly, treasuring every kick and nudge we felt.

While Morgan went in and out of sleep throughout the day, Emmett and I were talking to the babies hoping they'd be able to tell who we were when they were born by the sound of our voices like Renesmee was able to with Edward. Edward assured us that the babies were finding comfort in both our voices and loved the stories that Emmett always told them. He said it made them wish they could see it. When Edward told him about that, Emmett promised he'd take them camping and do all sorts of fun stuff.

Jacob and his pack were coming around a lot more often. They said it was because we had the large screen TV and wanted to watch baseball, but I knew better. Emmett, Morgan, and I avoided Charlie to avoid complications. We were going to tell him about the baby, but we weren't planning on telling him any details. He wouldn't want to know any details in that respect anyway. And Jacob and the others were kind enough not to say anything about what was going on. They might not like what was going on, but they were nice enough to keep the peace and keep their opinions to themselves. Nessie had said that, as long as nothing bad happens, then it doesn't count against them as far as the treaty is concerned.

When it was finally the day she was due, I was barely able to stay still from anticipation. Emmett, Nessie, and Jacob were with me and Morgan the whole time, waiting with me. Carlisle moved her to his study where he had the operating table set up and ready. Carlisle asked Morgan to walk around a little to help her go into labor. She had told us that yesterday, she'd started feeling little pains. Carlisle assured her and us that this was completely normal. In fact, it was preferable. It meant she would go into labor soon. The body was 'practicing' in a sense. But around the afternoon, Morgan's water still hadn't broken.

"You don't think the babies are going to be late, do you?" I asked to Carlisle. Everyone stayed quiet and listened for Carlisle.

"She might. It happens sometimes, Rosalie. I've seen cases where a woman was due in July, but she didn't end up having the baby until the third of September." Morgan and I groaned in unison, her a little louder than me.

"Why can't our children be the early ones?" Emmett wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

"Don't worry, Rosalie. They'll get here. And they'll get here on their own time. You have to admit, it must be toasty warm in there. I wouldn't want to leave that kind of comfort either." Morgan and I both gave Emmett a look that told him to shut up. He read my face and shut up as I told him to.

"Don't worry, Rosalie. She's about ready to pop." Edward touched Carlisle's shoulder to stop him. "Yes, Edward?"

"Morgan would like it if you didn't use painful words." Carlisle gave Edward a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Now and while she's in labor, she doesn't want you to use painful words. Like torn, or epidural, or crowning, or stretching, and so on. She doesn't mind 'the baby's coming', but no more than that." Carlisle nodded in acknowledgement and looked at Morgan with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Morgan. I won't use any painful words." Morgan smiled back gratefully.

"Thanks Carlisle." Nessie smiled and patted Morgan's shoulder gently. "You are going to use one of those things that makes it not hurt right?" Carlisle looked confused a moment, then Edward whispered epidural to him and his face became aware.

"Of course. We have to if we're going to do a C-Section." Morgan winced gently. Carlisle gave her an apologetic smile and Esme, who was now standing next to him, giggled under her breath. "Sorry. Is that a painful word?" Morgan nodded. "Alright. I won't say it anymore."

"Thanks Carlisle." Carlisle bowed his head a little before getting out his stethoscope and placing it on her belly to check on the babies. "Do you think they'll come today?" Edward answered.

"Maybe. One of them is in the breach position, but that's common for twins or more." I looked at Edward.

"How do you know one's in the breach position?" Edward smiled in humor.

"One is complaining that the other has their foot in their face." We all smiled and laughed in humor. I started petting Morgan's belly again and feeling my babies kick. Even now, it made me feel lighter than air to feel them. The only thing I wished for now was that I could be the one carrying them.

Eventually, with the exception of Alice and Jasper, everyone was in the study with Morgan awaiting the birth. By the mid afternoon, Carlisle asked Morgan to start walking around to try and get her water to break. She walked around the study for an hour and started getting aggravated. I was getting just as annoyed. After a while, I was actually lecturing the babies for not coming out sooner. Emmett thought it was funny, I knew, but he tried to keep his laugh quiet and to himself. Finally, by ten, Morgan couldn't stand anymore and went back onto the operating table and went to sleep. Nessie and Jacob left the study and went downstairs to go sleep on the couch. Jacob asked Edward to wake them up if she went into labor while they were asleep.

"Figures our babies would be late." Emmett chuckled and kissed my hand.

"They might come later tonight. Try to stop worrying so much."

"But I want them to come now, Emmett." He chuckled again and kissed my cheek.

"Well, young lady, you're just going to have to be patient." I gave Emmett a weird look before I finally smiled and laughed with him.

The night went on and Morgan still wasn't going into labor. At one point during the night, I teasingly looked at Carlisle and asked if maybe we could just give her some morphine and get the babies without waiting for her to go into labor. Carlisle just gave me a stern, lecturing look, and I didn't say anymore on the topic, though it was a really tempting thing to consider. And I got the feeling Morgan would simply be glad not to be pregnant anymore. The next morning, Morgan woke up thirsty for blood. I left and got some from the kitchen and was pleased to come back and hear her complaining that she was starting to feel a sharp pain in her abdomen.

"Carlisle, do you think it's time?" Carlisle smiled.

"It might be. Morgan, I know you're tired, but start walking around again. Hopefully, you'll start having the babies within the next few hours." Morgan smiled and nodded at Carlisle before finishing her cup of blood and getting out of the bed to walk around.

I walked around the room with Morgan keeping my hand on her belly hoping that maybe it would encourage the babies to finally come out. After walking around the room for a half hour, Morgan sat down to rest. Carlisle listened to what was going on to make sure everything was okay. So far, so good, he'd said. She rested for an hour and a half before forcing herself off the bed and started walking around again.

"I'm sorry this is taking so long." I shook my head a little surprised.

"No, not at all. It's not your fault. They're probably stubborn like Emmett is all." She smiled.

"Probably. My mother always used to tell me that the first born child is too much like the father and the children after that are just enough of father." I giggled.

"I've never heard that expression."

"My mother's good about coming up with her own little expressions. I don't think I've ever heard her use an old one. She always has to make up her own." I smiled.

"Sounds a lot like my mother. She always had to do something her own way. If there was a slaying term that she didn't like, she would replace it with something she'd rather say. And if you didn't know her, then you never knew what she was talking about. But other than that little thing, my mother was obsessed with being accepted."

"What do you mean?"

"My parents always wanted more. We were a middle class family, which was a lot better than most families during the depression, but they were never satisfied. They always wanted more. They raised me to be the same way. I try not to be that way, considering my vanity and selfishness overall is what got me in trouble in the first place, but it still peeks out every now and then." Morgan nodded in understanding. She knew my story as well as everyone else's. It was one of the things we'd done to pass the time before she finally went into labor.

"I understand that. When you grow up a certain way, it's hard to act differently. It goes against the grain as my Psychology teacher put it." I smiled.

"Ah, psych teachers. They always know everything." She giggled.

"It feels like it sometimes, doesn't it?" We smiled and walked around a little more until I smelled something that was part blood mixed with water. I looked down and I felt myself flood with joy. "My water just broke."

"I can see that." My voice sounded like a feather falling. Emmett was at my side holding my free hand. Carlisle was at Morgan's side in a millisecond helping her to the operating table letting her lie down.

"Just keep breathing, Morgan."

"Does it ease the pain?"

"No."

"Then why do I need to breath?!"

"Because if you don't breath, Morgan, you'll die." Morgan laughed for an instant, but whined when she felt a contraction.

"Let's just get this done."

"We'll give you the morphine as soon as you're dilated enough."

"Why do we have to wait for that?"

"Because if we give it to you now, it will be harmful to the baby. We need to wait until you're far enough along. And we have to wait until you've dilated the full ten inches before we perform the C-Section." Morgan whined a little.

"Painful words." Carlisle smiled apologetically.

"Sorry Morgan." Morgan smiled a little as she waited out the contraction. It was about two hours before she was dilated enough for Carlisle to give her the epidural. While I was holding her hand, I felt her shudder violently when she saw the size of the needle. Even I was freaked out by the sight. After three hours, Emmett went to get Nessie and Jacob from downstairs and came back a few minutes later with them following. They both looked excited, but still really groggy.

"How far along is she?" Nessie asked when she was standing across the bed from me. Carlisle was the one that answered.

"She's up to eight centimeters. At her current pace, we might be able to start within the next hour." Morgan sighed.

"I'm so glad this morphine is working." Nessie smiled at her.

"Can you feel anything?" Morgan shook her head.

"Not a thing. I can't feel anything below my waist. I can't move my feet or anything." Carlisle smiled.

"That is the point of morphine after all." Carlisle then started walking to his desk where he retrieved a stand with a cover attached to it. Then he set it up so that it was secured to the operating table and covering Morgan's view of her lower body. "With this thing up, you won't even know I'm doing anything." Morgan smiled.

"That sounds nice." We all laughed lightly at her joke and avoided saying anything that would make her uncomfortable. Another hour went by, and Morgan was finally dilated enough to have the C-Section. Carlisle patted Morgan's shoulder reassuringly before starting anything.

"Alright, Morgan, we can start now. I promise you won't feel a thing." Morgan smiled.

"Thanks, Carlisle." Carlisle looked at me and Emmett.

"Rosalie, do you think you and Emmett will be able to handle it?" I didn't know what he meant at first, but then I knew and nodded.

"Yes, Carlisle, we'll be fine. I want to be here." Carlisle smiled encouragingly.

"Alright, Rosalie." Then he looked at Esme. "Esme, bring my tray of things over to me, please." Esme smiled, nodded, and brought his things over to him. When he had everything, he immediately got to work.

He started by placing the plastic, sticky paper like thing over her stomach. When that was down, he marked with a purple marker where he would make the incision. Before he started, Carlisle pinched her belly and asked if she could feel that. Morgan shook her head saying she couldn't feel it, giving Carlisle the reassurance that he could start. Once he had the okay from Morgan, Carlisle started cutting along the little line he'd drawn just above her crotch at the base of her belly. I held my breath as small amounts of blood started to come.

Then Carlisle maneuvered his way around until her uterus was in plain sight. He looked like he was gently pushing a few things aside to make it easier. When Carlisle had her uterus positioned just the way he needed it to be, he made an incision across her uterus, which let out a torrent of blood and water. I kept holding my breath. Partly from wanting to keep under control, and partly because I felt like this was too good to be true. My babies that I had wanted all my life and could never have were about to be born and I was going to finally get to hold them in my arms for the first time. Once he had a decent sized hole formed, he gently reached in and began to pull out my baby. Emmett beamed with pride, I knew, when we saw that it was a boy. Emmett wrapped one arm around me tightly.

"I told you we'd have a boy."

I only smiled and kept looking at my son. Carlisle smiled and handed him to me. He already had dark hair. I wasn't curly. It was straighter, closer to the texture of my hair. He had pale skin like me and Emmett, but his skin had more color because of his loud beating heart. He wasn't even crying. He was rubbing his eyes at first and looked right at me when he finally opened his eyes. What I saw took my breath away. They were my eyes. My bright, light blue eyes that I'd had when I was human. And when he looked at me, he smiled. I felt like I could fly when I saw that smile. He had his father's dimples. The very dimples that I'd fallen in love with the moment I'd first seen Emmett, even when his face had been cringed in pain. Edward handed me a blanket and wrapped it around my baby boy gently and in a way that made sure he never left my arms.

"Ryan." It was perfect. When I'd first thought of that name, it hadn't seemed good enough. But looking at his face, I'd never felt so sure of anything in my life. His name would be Ryan. Ryan Dale McCarthy. I heard Edward smirk.

"Feel proud Emmett. She named him after you." Emmett looked at Edward for a second, then back at me.

"Ryan?"

"Ryan Dale McCarthy……Cullen." He chuckled and kissed my neck, then looked at our son, Ryan looked at Emmett and his face lit up even more and he reached out to him.

"Hey, Ryan." Then he reached over and took Ryan into his arms. As soon as Ryan was in Emmett's arms, another baby was in mine. My little girl.

"And a girl." Carlisle said. I felt like my chest was swelling. My baby girl was fluttering her eyes for a moment before she looked directly at me.

Like her brother, she had my blue eyes. And she had my lashes that went on for miles. And, like her brother again, she had her father's dimples. She made them obvious when she smiled at me. She had my blonde hair, right now the same platinum blonde mine had been when I was a baby. And her hair was curly like Emmett's. It was long enough to almost resemble a Shirley Temple hair style, but far, far cuter. Edward wrapped her in a little pink blanket, still making sure to not take my baby out of my arms. Still holding Ryan, Emmett leaned over my shoulder, making sure Ryan could look too, and looked at his little girl. Then Emmett spoke, only barely taking me out of my trance.

"I'm thinking Valerie, after my mother. Valerie Lillian McCarthy Cullen." I looked around at Emmett and somehow smiled wider.

"It's beautiful, Emmett." I think everyone else was smiling, but I wasn't paying attention to them. I was only looking at Ryan and Valerie, two of the most beautiful babies I'd ever seen. When I finally did look up, Morgan was fast asleep. Probably all the morphine.

"What do you say we feed them? I can already tell Ryan has my appetite." I giggled a little and nodded.

"Yeah. We should do that." After that, Carlisle and everyone wished us congratulations and were all happy that everything worked out alright and that Morgan hadn't had any problems at all. Jacob gave Nessie a big kiss and left to go tell the pack that Ryan and Valerie were born and everything went well.

When we got downstairs, we went straight to the kitchen and heated up two steel bottles with blood. When they were done, we stayed in the kitchen and started feeding them both. Ryan was finished within a minute while Valerie seemed to take her time with feeding and enjoyed making it last. Ryan was a little fussy after finishing and Emmett looked at me, silently asking me what he should do. I smiled at him lovingly.

"Just this once, let him have another bottle." Emmett smiled and walked to the fridge to get more. When that was heated up, he started feeding it to Ryan. Once again, he finished it within a minute. Valerie finished around the same time Ryan finished his second bottle. When she was done, she seemed to be happy enough and didn't get fussy at all. "You and your brother are so beautiful, Valerie."

"Of course they are. They looked like their mother." I looked at Emmett again and smiled impossibly wider at him. I got up from my chair and took a seat in Emmett's lap. He maneuvered Ryan so he was holding him and me both securely. Ryan started playing with my sweater while Valerie immediately went to sleep for a nap.

"I can't believe it, Emmett. I'm finally a mother." Emmett kissed my shoulder, then looked at both our children.

"No one deserves it more than you, honey. You've been through too much to not be allowed to have a baby. I only wish my grandfather were still alive so I could show him Ryan and Valerie." I looked around at him.

"I bet he would have loved them." Emmett let out a small laugh.

"He'd sooner like president Hoover. He was never a fan of kids. He thought they were a pain in his side until they were old enough to pay their way."

"Then why do you wish you could show him Ryan and Valerie?" Emmett chuckled a little under his breath.

"Because I used to get in trouble with him a lot. You know, breaking things in his house, tipping his black servants when he'd specifically told me not to, that sort of stuff. He told me one time that in the unlikely chance I did find a woman willing to have my child, I was so rotten that I'd end up with a gremlin. I just wish I could prove him wrong."

"I thought you loved going to your grandpa's plantation."

"Wrong grandpa. I'm talking about my grandpa from mom's side of the family. He was a mean, bitter old man. My grandmother had left him for a Sioux Indian or something and they went up north and we never saw the m again. After that, he was a racist, bitter old man till the day he died."

"Oh. That grandpa." Emmett smiled and chuckled.

"I wonder if that plantation is still around. I'd love to take them there some time."

"Who owned it after your family lost it?"

"It was taken by the bank. But it was still around when I'd died. I wish I could let them meet my loving, nagging, goes to church every Sunday mother and lazy, always had a beer in his hand, spent more time in the woods hunting than he did at home father. They would have loved you two." He said the last part to Valerie and Ryan. Valerie was asleep and didn't respond, but Ryan gently clapped his hands saying he agreed.

"Me too. My mother would have loved them. Daddy would have too in his own little way."

"How do you mean?" I sighed.

"Daddy had a habit of using money as a babysitter I guess one could say. Whenever I wanted to be with daddy, he was usually working on something and was too busy for me. He would usually had me a ten dollar bill, tell me to buy something nice, and that would be the end of it." Emmett smiled and kissed my neck.

"Let's not be like our parents, okay." I giggled and kissed him back.

"Definitely no." We smiled at each other a little longer before giving each other a quick kiss and looking at our two beautiful babies. "I love you Valerie. I love you Ryan." Valerie seemed to smile in her sleep while Ryan pulled on my sweater and smiled at me, showing off his little dimples.

"I think he said he loves you too, Rosalie." I smiled wider still.

"They love daddy too." Emmett seemed to shine when I said that.

"I never thought I'd be called that."

"Me either." We looked at each other for a minute before kissing. Then I leaned against Emmett's shoulder and looked at our babies. I finally had everything I could want. I even had a chance at having grandchildren one day. Emmett and I could really sit on out little white swing chair on our porch watching all our grandchildren play together. We wouldn't be old and grey, but that didn't seem to be all that bad anymore. "It's about time you two showed up." I said to them both. Emmett chuckled.

"Better late than never, right?" As an answer, I only nodded my head. Emmett and I sat together looking at Ryan and Valerie. It seemed far too good to be true. I would worry that I was dreaming if I were capable of doing so. But I wasn't. I really wasn't. I didn't have to be jealous of Bella anymore. I could put my petty grievances behind me and concentrate on the two little souls that should have always been in my life. I was happy that they finally were.


	13. Italian Leather

**Italian Leather**

Once Ryan and Valerie were born, they occupied almost all of Emmett's and Rosalie's time. Emmett invited Billy and grandpa over to the house that weekend for a basketball game, but he really just wanted to show them off. Rosalie too. Billy and grandpa praised them and said several times how beautiful they both were and how much they looked like Emmett. Billy wasn't surprised to see them, seeing as he's always filled in on what's going on with our family and how the pack and tribe are involved. If anything, he looked relieved to see them. He was even more relieved when, out of grandpa's hearing range, daddy told Billy that Morgan was fine. Carlisle wanted to keep her at the house for a few more days to make sure she was healthy and that nothing was wrong or badly damaged before he let Alice drive her back to Oregon. I was surprised that Esme and Carlisle hadn't taken Morgan up on her offer to carry another child for them. But in the end, Carlisle didn't want to push their luck of Morgan having a trouble free pregnancy again and Esme was happy having everyone else as her adoptive children. But I think it was more the fact that she knew there were several things that could go wrong and they both simply didn't want to risk going through that.

Grandpa, on the other hand, was surprised to see that Emmett and Rosalie had twins. He was shocked that we would never tell him that Rosalie was pregnant. There was no point in correcting grandpa. He never saw Morgan and he didn't know, exactly, what we were, so it was best to let him think that Rosalie was the one carrying them. She did light up when grandpa told her she looked like she'd never been pregnant. She thanked him for saying and let grandpa hold Ryan and Valerie one at a time.

We discovered early on that Ryan really likes to pull on things. Anything he could get his hands on, he would pull. Especially when he would get a hold of mine, Rosalie's, momma's, or Esme's hair. The only one whose hair was safe was Valerie's. He never pulled on her hair or anything that was on her. Rosalie was annoyed and happy with this all at the same time. Rosalie tolerated it for a few days before telling him he wasn't allowed to pull on anyone's hair or clothes or jewelry anymore. Ryan was expressively mad about that, but did as Rosalie said and stopped pulling on things.

Valerie was a sleepy little toddler. She seemed to always be taking a nap. She would be awake for about two hours at best, then she would fall fast asleep again. But when she was awake, she always wanted to be near Ryan. No matter who was holding him or where he was, she would always get testy when she wasn't near Ryan. The two of them shared a crib because Valerie would have a fit if she wasn't close to Ryan.

As I had, they grew fast. By the time they were five days old, they looked like they'd been alive a few months. Valerie's curls were growing longer and her hair was already starting to tint to a darker blonde that was progressively closer to Rosalie's color. Ryan was already starting to get tall. Even at a few days old, he was about five inches taller than most babies that were a few months old. Valerie, on the other hand, remained demurely small. She was the same size as any five month old baby. Ryan simply looked big for his age. It sort of reminded me of Dante. Dante was younger than me and yet he already looked a lot older than he should. Carlisle told me that sort of thing was common, especially with boys.

They were walking on their own within days. Rosalie put them both down for a minute and they watched her walk. Daddy said that Valerie thought it was pretty, so she tried it. And Ryan simply wanted to follow Valerie. Rosalie heard their footsteps and looked around at them. Her face lit up at the site of them walking. Rosalie yelled for Emmett to get to the living room from outside and he was just as thrilled to see them walking. Rosalie wanted to hold them, but Emmett convinced her to let them walk around on their own for a while. Once Ryan and Valerie were walking, they never wanted to be carried anywhere anymore. When Rosalie or Emmett told them it was time to feed them, they would start walking on their own to the kitchen. And it took them no time to master stairs. Within a day or so, they were walking as gracefully as the rest of us.

I let Aida come over to the house again so she could meet Ryan and Valerie. In her own, vulgar way, she complimented how cute they were and how fast they were growing. Ryan immediately liked Aida, though Valerie shied away from her. She stayed close to Ryan while he played with Aida, but that was about the extent of their overall contact. Like Alice and Rosalie had done with me, they were taking several pictures of the twins a day. They had their own little photo album made for them and it was updated regularly.

Jacob and the pack were more than relieved that everything went well. I don't think Jacob had a clue what he would have done if things had gone for the worst. That would have led to a whole other can of worms that no one was willing to let spill. It was nice to have that little worry out of our minds at last and to see Rosalie so happy.

Several days went by before I started school again. It was my junior year, and my last year of high school, thanks to the grades I'd maintained and me being able to test out of most of the high school courses left. My junior year was going to be mostly electives as it was. Aside from the English, Math, and Gym I was required to take, everything else was pretty much an elective. My first day back felt odd considering I wasn't in a class with any of my friends. I was one of six kids that were in the AP calculus and I was the only junior there. Everyone else was a senior that just barely got into the class, and some in my opinion didn't really deserve to be in the class. I knew some of them from last year and knew that they always kept the answers to tests on the inside of their calculators. The ones that had gotten into the class honestly would struggle through the class because of the fast pace.

Thankfully, everyone had the same lunch hour, so I was more than relieved to see Aida, Madison, and Mackenzie sitting at a table waiting for everyone to show up. Madison hopped up and down when she saw me and hugged me tightly. I patted her back and took a seat next to her. Aida moved to the seat that was next to me that Madison wasn't sitting in. Meagan and Candy came in shortly after I sat down, Kevin, Matt, and Keith, a new freshman, followed after them and took their seats at the table. Just because Aida brought it up, I showed everyone the pictures of Ryan and Valerie. I was sure to show them pictures that were from when they were a few hours old, that way they would believe me when I told them they were only two and a half weeks old.

Aida was about to tell them about their first words, but I stopped her. As far as everyone else could tell, two week old babies shouldn't be able to talk. But Ryan and Valerie were already talking. And how it started was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. They'd been sitting together between the couch and the TV in the living room with Emmett and Rosalie watching them attentively. They had a few stuffed animals and action figures on the floor that they were playing with together, but there was one toy that Ryan was keeping all to himself. It was a little Halo creature toy that I couldn't identify. I never played Halo, so I never knew what that thing was. I knew it was a lizard looking thing that had a really big nose and mouth. That was about all I knew.

But Ryan was keeping that toy close to him, but at the same time was completely ignoring it. Then, suddenly, Valerie reached over and took the little action figure and started pretending it was the bad guy trying to hurt the little stuffed bunny. At first, Ryan simply gave Valerie an angry look and snatched his toy back and placed it down in its original spot where it was once again ignored by him. Valerie didn't let that bother her and she took the toy away again and started playing with it. That was when Ryan said his first words, leading to his first sentence.

"Valerie, leave Arby alone." Rosalie's eyes were wide with pride that her son was talking, but at the same time, she was annoyed with the circumstances of this joyous moment. Valerie only rolled her eyes at Ryan.

"I'll play with Arby all I want, Ryan. I don't see you name on it." That statement simply led to their first little argument and pulling on the toy trying to get it from the other. Emmett lost his patience long before Rosalie did and took the toy away from them, telling them if they couldn't share, then neither of them could play with the toy. Rosalie took the time later in the day to praise them for saying their first words. Alice made the situation slightly worse by giving them both a new Halo Alien toy thing from her and Jasper.

Halfway through August, daddy and Alice were able to convince momma to go to Jessica's and Mike's wedding. It was August 29, so they needed to call Mrs. Stanley and let her know they would be coming. I was going to join Alice and momma while they went shopping for their dresses, but then I decided not to. Jacob still owed me shoes and there was no better time to get them than when I would be looking for a dress to wear to the wedding of people I don't know. I waited until there were three days before the wedding before talking to Jacob about it. I had spent the night at his house on the two day mark. I didn't mention anything to Jacob about wanting to go shopping. He had work, but I could always call him out sick. He needed a day off anyway. Or at least as much of a day off as shopping with me could possibly be, I suppose. And I already got momma and daddy to agree to let me take a day off from school for this. It took an hour's worth of begging, but I managed it. Jacob thought he was going to drive me to school before going to work, but I was sure to wake up before him and call him in sick.

The number for the shop was on his speed dial, so not knowing the number wasn't a problem at least. I kept his house phone on speaker while I started some pancakes for Jacob. I was hoping that he'd be more open to going shopping with me if I pampered him for the morning. I was taking out all the ingredients for Jacob's pancakes when someone finally answered the phone. I hadn't expected it to be Amanda. I didn't let my voice show any annoyance with her as I answered her.

"Auto Repair shop, this is Amanda speaking. How may I help you?" Her voice was oddly professional. I couldn't remember a single time I'd ever heard it sound that way.

"Yes. I'm calling to let you know that Jacob won't be coming to work for today. He's not feeling well." When Amanda answered, her voice went to the overly perky, high pitched voice I was so hatefully used to.

"Oh, no, that poor thing. Is it the flu?" That's hardly any of her business, but I kept that thought between me and the eggs I was holding.

"Yes. He's been feeling sick since he got home yesterday. I'd rather he not push himself. He'll be at work on Monday."

"Well, I'm happy to hear it. I'll let our boss know." With that, Amanda hung up the phone and I hung up the phone to end the annoying sound of the dial tone.

"I suppose the fact that Jacob and I are practically engaged mean nothing to her." I mumbled to myself under my breath. She probably didn't know the extent of mine and Jacob's relationship, but I did know for a fact that Jacob had a girlfriend, namingly me. After venting to myself for a few seconds, I let it go and went back to making Jacob's pancakes. I found strawberries in his fridge, so I caramelized that in sugar and whipping cream to make it sweeter. Once again, I was hoping a great breakfast in bed would soften him.

I didn't hear Jacob stir or make any sounds or movements that would tell me I'd woke him up the whole time I was cooking. When I was dome with the first pancake, I put it on a plate and covered it in the caramelized strawberries before covering that with the last pancake, which was covered with the rest of the strawberries and the sauce made from them. I drizzled it with powdered sugar, just as a finishing touch to make it pretty with a single raw slices strawberry in the middle. I put the plate on a little tray that would be able to hold the plate and stay steady on Jacob's bed.

When I was in his room, he was still fast asleep and on his stomach with the left side of his face rested on the pillow. I smiled and placed the tray of food right next to his arm and climbed into bed and rested next to him with the tray of food between us. While avoiding touching the food, I reached across and touched Jacob's cheek to try and wake him up. He moved a little, but he didn't wake up. I moved the tray a little further out of my way so I could comfortably reach over and give him a kiss to wake him up. He remained still for a minute before he started groaning himself awake and finally opening his eyes to look at me. He smiled at me, me smiling in returned, and kissed my nose.

"Is it time to go?" I shook my head.

"Nope." Jacob smiled, then turned on his side to look at the clock. Then he looked at me with widened eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position while resting his weight on his elbows.

"Nessie, its eight thirty. School started a half hour ago. And I need to get to work by nine." I shrugged indifferently, which appeared to annoy him, but he waited for my response.

"Momma and daddy called me out of school for the day. And I already called the Auto shop and told them you weren't feeling well and wouldn't be in work today."

"Why?" I smiled a little wider.

"Well, tomorrow is Jessica's and Mike's wedding and I haven't had a chance to get a dress for the occasion. And I was hoping you'd buy me a pair of shoes for the occasion." Jacob was giving me a strange blank stare. He was still upset, but at the same time glad for a day of, then mad because he didn't want to go shopping. Jacob, like a lot of men, hated shopping. He always associated it with sitting in a chair holding my purse while I spend an hour trying things on.

"You've never even met them." I shrugged.

"So? I'm going to the wedding anyway. And it would be rude to not dress nice for the occasion. And I really want to get you something more casual for it. I like the suit on you and all but maybe we can get you a nice dress shirt to go with the pants you already have." Jacob gave me a surprised look.

"I didn't know I was even going. I never got an invitation." I shrugged again.

"I want you to come with me. Besides, they know you. I'm sure they won't mind."

"Nessie, I met Mike once. The last encounter I had with Mike was when he nearly vomited in my newly finished Rabbit. And the last time I saw Jessica, she kept giving me weird looks after Sam told her how old I was."

"Anyone's eyes would widen back then. It's not so bad now that you're actually in your twenties, but when you're a teenager, people find it weird that you look so much older." Jacob shook his head.

"I wasn't always this tall, Nessie. When I met Jessica, I was more bone than meat and I was really scrawny looking. I looked younger than fifteen. My only saving grace was that I was still taller than her." I smiled at him.

"I have a hard time picturing you scrawny, Jacob." He smiled a little, but still had a stern look on his face.

"Well thank you, Nessie. But still, why didn't you tell me last night?"

"I wanted to surprise you." He laughed at that and shook his head. He fell onto his back gently while he laughed and I just watched him and let him get it all out.

"In other words, you didn't want to give me a chance to say no." I smiled wider but tried to look offended.

"That's not true. I just wanted to tell you while giving you a tasty breakfast in bed, my darling." I pulled the tray back up and put it near his face. "See. Fluffy pancakes with strawberries and powdered sugar, a glass of milk and orange juice, without pulp mind you, and a side of some tasty toast with butter." Jacob looked at his breakfast, then back at me again.

"In other words, you didn't want to give me a chance to say no."

"Okay, fine, I didn't want to give you a chance to say no. Eat your damn pancakes." Jacob smiled and sat back up again. I was smiling too and watched him as he ate.

"Just please don't make me buy anything really expensive. Alice keeping an eye on my stock or not, there's only so much I can spare."

"Jacob, the stock market's practically made you a millionaire."

"I'm not a millionaire, I'm well off." I rolled my eyes with a smile. He wasn't a millionaire, true, but Alice's prying into his business made him in the upper middle class quick. Jacob never bragged about it. I should be happy about that. "So where are we going for shopping?"

"I figured Port Angeles. Maybe Olympia if I don't find something I like." Jacob sighed before taking another bite of his pancakes.

"How long do you plan to shop?" I shrugged.

"A few hours or so. The norm."

"How is it that women are able to shop for so long and still have energy to burn?" I shrugged.

"We just can, I guess." Jacob rolled his eyes with a smile and finished eating his pancakes. When he was done, he took the tray of dishes and followed me into the kitchen. He helped me clean the dishes and put them away before he grabbed me into a hug.

"Can I ask a favor?" I smiled a held his arms that were over my stomach holding me against him.

"Sure."

"Next time you want to take me shopping, please tell me the night before, okay." I sighed.

"But then you don't get the breakfast in bed." He chuckled.

"So every time I get breakfast in bed from now on, that means you've done something bad, am I right?"

"Not something wrong. Just something."

"Ah-huh." Jacob kissed the top of my head before letting go of me and walking out of the kitchen. "Let me take a shower first, and then we'll go."

"Alright. I should take one too."

I followed after Jacob until I reached my bathroom and went in to take a shower. Once I was done with my shower, I took a few minutes to blow dry my hair. It had grown most of the way back from last year, but it was still a little shorter than I would like. I was glad to be able to let it curl again without looking like a long version of Shirley Temple. It was cute on Valerie, but certainly wasn't my thing. When my hair was dry and curled, I let it hang down and went to my room to change into my clothes.

"Nessie." I looked at Jacob as he was walking out of his room while I was walking to mine.

"Yeah."

"Be sure to wear something warm. Port Angeles is getting a lot of rain today. Olympia's only damp, but wear something warm anyway, okay." I smiled at him.

"You know we don't need to." Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"Just don't wear Bermuda shorts and a tank top. If I have to wear a long sleeve shirt, so do you." I giggled and nodded. He was wearing jeans and the Slip Knot sweatshirt he'd gotten from the concert we'd went to for new years a few years ago. Even after all these years, I could still smell the hint of pot on it.

"Alright. I'll wear a sweater." Jacob smiled.

"Thanks, Nessie." He started walking down the hall and gave me a quick kiss before walking away into the living room to wait for me.

When I got into my room, I rummaged through my closet to find something good. I put on some brown buckled flats and a green off the shoulder sweater with a brown embroidered tank top underneath. I put on my bracelets from Jacob and my necklace from him and my locket from momma. I didn't bother with any makeup for today. When I was dressed, I walked out of my room and walked to the living room where Jacob was watching TV waiting for me. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled when he heard me coming. Then he turned the TV off and got up from the couch towards me. Then he took my hand and I walked with him to the door. He grabbed his keys and locked his door and we walked down the stairs out of the building to the car. It was only drizzling, so we didn't need to run to the car.

Jacob got us to Port Angeles in about twenty minutes and we went straight to the mall from there. We were there early on a weekday, so we were able to get a parking spot really close to the Sears entrance. I decided to get the dress shopping done first and have that so I would know what shoes to get. We went to a little bridal shop and looked at all the dresses that weren't wedding dresses. There was a Big And Tall store nearby, so I told Jacob we'd go there after we were done at the bridal shop. One of the first dresses I looked at was a dark blue dress that had a low V and a little jewel design in the middle between the breasts.

"What do you think of this one?" I looked at Jacob after I asked the question. Jacob was giving me his usual smile.

"It's nice."

"Just nice?" Jacob smiled a little wider in humor and sighed.

"Nessie, I think you look beautiful in anything. Whatever you get, you'll look beautiful." I smiled and decided to tease him.

"Well, I do plan to wear the dress for tomorrow to prom at the end of the year." Jacob's face became serious.

"I hate it. It's horrible." I giggled and shook my head.

"What do you suggest then?" Jacob shrugged with the same serious look.

"A paper bag?" I laughed and rolled my eyes at Jacob and looked back at the dress.

"I don't think it would be appropriate to go to a wedding and prom wearing a paper bag, Jacob."

"If you don't mind my asking, is there anyone you think will be asking you to prom?" I shrugged.

"There might be a few. But I won't say yes to any of them, you know that. I'd rather take you, but I don't think the school would let me invite a twenty three year old man to prom with me. As far as they know, I'm seventeen." Jacob shrugged.

"I could always wait outside." I shuddered at the memory that popped into my head and tried to ignore it.

"I'd rather not leave you out there. If you're going to be there, I want to be able to be with you."

"I would too, honestly." I let go of the blue dress and started looking around the store a little more for something that I'd like. After passing a few dresses, I found a red dress that hugged the curves of the manikin that wore it. I was a halter cut that had fake jewels going along the V of the neck. It ruffled as it went down and flowed out with silk to the floor and was backless.

"How about this one." Jacob smiled.

"You really do like red." I giggled.

"I think it's a nice color. What can I say?" He smiled and stayed quiet as I took the dress off the rack to get a better look at it. "But I'm not sure I should wear this color to a wedding." Jacob shrugged.

"I'd go with a less bold color, but that's just me." I smiled and started looking through the dresses again. I stopped when I saw a light purple strapless dress that had a fake diamond design in the middle of the bust that flowed down over the body. It was a silk dress and the bottom was covered in a layer of sheer material of a color slightly lighter than the silk of the dress. When I took it off the rack to look at it, it flowed well and didn't look like it would be overbearing or too poufy. It simply fell over the body after the tightness of the bodice.

"What about this?" Jacob looked over my shoulder at the dress a minute.

"That's more appropriate for a wedding."

"And it'll make a really nice prom dress too. I think I'll take this one." Jacob smiled and stayed quiet behind me as I walked over to one of the people that worked in the shop and asked to try it on in a four.

Conveniently enough, the four fit nicely without needing any alterations to the fit. Jacob and I left the store after I bought the dress. It took a little longer than was necessary since the saleslady was trying to sell me hairpieces that I didn't need or want. We went straight to the big and tall store after that and looked through all the shirts to find something nice. Jacob didn't say much the whole time. I would show him something and he wouldn't give much of a response as to whether or not he liked it. I was getting a little miffed that he wasn't saying much more than a light grunt to everything I showed him. I wondered if I really had his full attention. Just to make sure, I walked through the store and tried to find the ugliest shirt I could find. I found a blue dress shirt that was made hideous because it had weird beading designs on the left shoulder and the right sleeve cuff and around the bottom that had no business being there. I held it up to show Jacob.

"How about this?" Jacob looked at it and gave me a stern look.

"You are joking right?" I smiled and nodded.

"I just wanted to make sure you were listening."

"I am listening, Nessie. Except that thing, everything was nice. I'm not picky, baby, you know that." I sighed.

"I know. But I don't want to put you in something that you won't like. I'm not cruel." Jacob chuckled and bent down to kiss my cheek.

"You have your moments, babe." I smiled and kissed him.

"Well, I don't this time. Just tell me if there's anything here that you like or I'll make you wear the pink shirt." Jacob sneered.

"I don't want to wear the pink shirt."

"Then pick something you do want to wear." Jacob sighed and looked around the store for something. Then he walked a few feet away and came back with a long sleeved sienna colored dress shirt. "Alright, good choice. This'll look nice on you." Then I handed it back to him and he went to go pay for it.

When we left the store, I got a big smile on my face and I took Jacob's hand to lead him with me to where I wanted to go next. Jacob didn't say a word as he followed my lead to the next store. When we were close, Jacob saw the products in the window and he groaned a little to himself. When we reached the store, I let go of his hands and started walking around looking at all the shoes that were on display. Jacob immediately took a seat and placed my bagged dress and his shirt next to him on the chair. I looked at my dress again and kept it in mind as I looked at all the shoes. I wanted to pick something for that first and foremost before I picked anything else. I decided to put Jacob out of his misery and make him buy all four shoes he still owed me today. He'd bought me a pair in Chicago, and they were beautiful. One of the people working there greeted us as we walked in. I smiled back at them while Jacob smiled halfheartedly and took his seat.

Within a minute, I found a pair of shoes that would go perfectly with my dress. They were a silver shoe that had a lovely five inch heel and platform, all being silver, and the bands crisscrossed around the shoe and buckled delicately around the ankle. I looked at the woman and asked her to bring me the shoe in a size seven and a seven in a half. Then I put the shoe down and took a seat next to Jacob on the little couch and touched his hand. Then I rested my head on his shoulder for a moment and kissed his shoulder.

"I know you're bored. Thanks for coming with me." Jacob sighed and smiled a little.

"I'm never bored with you Nessie." I smiled and we kissed a second. Then he kissed my forehead. He let go of me when the saleslady came out with the shoes that I wanted to try on in the sizes I asked for. I tried on the seven first. It ended up fitting nicely.

"What do you think?" Jacob shook his head at me gently and looked at my feet. Then he brought his hands to my knee and squeezed.

"How much are they?" I smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

"$74." Jacob scrunched his nose a moment.

"They aren't that cute." I laughed a little.

"Are you just saying that because you really think that, or because you know you're the one buying them?" Jacob looked at me a moment with a thoughtful look on his face. Then he sighed a little and finally said something.

"Nessie, they look pretty on you, but Jesus, 74 dollars? This better be real silver if I'm paying that much." I kept smiling at Jacob.

"It's expensive because it's made with Italian leather. This is actually cheaper than most. They're half off."

"So I'm paying extra for this because it's Italian?" I nodded.

"Pretty much."

"Am I the only one who thinks that's stupid?" I didn't say anything in response. Instead, I pouted and rested my head on his shoulder, giving him the cutest face I could muster. Jacob looked at me stubbornly for a minute before he finally rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine." I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Jacob." He sighed.

"Sure, sure." I kept smiling at him and looked at the shoes another minute and compared them to the dress.

When I decided I liked them, I put them back in the box and looked through the store again for shoes that I liked. After I chose four shoes, Jacob went up with a fake angry face and paid for the shoes. I hugged him the whole time and handed him a card I had that would give him twenty percent off all the shoes. I knew he was happy about that at least. That whole trip had only taken us about three hours. So we found a movie theatre in Port Angeles and sat in the back row watching a horror movie that had just come out. Neither of us really knew what the movie was about. The guy at the ticket stand only told us that it was a horror movie and that a lot of people had thought it was really scary. We were one of the first people in the theatre, so we were able to get really good seats in the very last row. We talked as the pre previews played.

"Did you see a picture for this movie when we were coming in?" Jacob shook his head.

"I don't think so. I saw a few posters for a chick flick or two, but nothing that looked like _**Carnage Wars**_."

"Do you think it will be any good?" Jacob shrugged.

"You know we could always leave or do something else if it isn't." I smiled and hugged onto him.

"That's true." Jacob and I laughed a little together before the previews started and everyone was in the theatre.

Jacob and I sat close together and held hands as we watched the movie. As it turns out, the movie was about this girl that had been haunting a house in Maine for several years and another girl and her boyfriend had just moved into the house. Right from the beginning, the movie was starting to feel really repetitive. And so far, the title of the movie had nothing to do with the movie. I figured we'd find that out later. They started being haunted by the girl within the first ten minutes of the movie, though the haunting started out subtle. About fifteen minutes into the movie, someone with a whole bunch of snacks and popcorn and drinks was trying to climb over us and everyone else to get to their seat on the other side of the theatre. I'd held my knees to my chest and feet rested on my chair to make it easier for the guy to get through. Jacob did what he could to give him room, but there wasn't much room for Jacob's legs as it was.

"Why the hell is he carrying that much food on his own?" Jacob whispered to me when the guy was a few seats away from us.

"I don't know. Maybe he's with a group."

"Still, why would they make him carry all that by himself?" I shrugged. "Unless that's all for his girlfriend or something." I swatted Jacob's arm playfully and with a smile. He smiled back at me.

"What? Don't act like you've never done that to me. Not with food, but with shopping bags."

"I don't usually take you shopping because I know you don't like it. Today was an exception." Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Alright, Nessie." I smiled a little wider and we watched a little more of the movie.

A few more minutes into the movie, the girlfriend started finding a whole bunch of things in her attic that told her what had happened in the house to previous owners. All the things she read were similar to what was happening to her and her boyfriend now. I sighed when another scene happened with the little girl. I looked around the theatre and saw a bunch of girls clutching to their boyfriends. I couldn't believe the movie was actually scaring them. I looked up at Jacob and he looked at me.

"Are you scared, Ness?" I shook my head.

"You know I'm not." He chuckled to himself and kissed my nose.

"Does that mean you're bored?" I smiled a little wider.

"You know I am." He grinned wider too and didn't say anything.

We finally kissed each other and let everything around us melt away. I could still hear the screaming from the movie in the background, but I was able to ignore it. My hands grabbed onto the front of his sweatshirt and his hands went to my hair and neck. He licked my bottom lip to ask for entrance and I let him in and brushed my tongue all over his mouth as he did the same to me. I heard a clearing throat, but I ignored it not really caring about it. I sucked on Jacob's tongue a bit and we both stayed quiet as I did so. Jacob did pull a little at my hair, but it was nice, so I didn't mind. My hands trailed up until they reached his shoulders and I was able to pull myself a little closer to him. The hand that Jacob had on my neck trailed down until it was on my back helping to pull me closer to him. I took his bottom lip into my mouth and sucked once I was closer and Jacob did the same to my top lip. I heard a clearing throat again, but kept ignoring it. I held onto Jacob's shirt tightly as we kissed and he pulled me close so I wouldn't have to pull as hard. I opened my mouth for him again and we let our tongues explore some more. Then I felt something poke my back. It didn't feel warm enough to be Jacob's hand, so I took my lips away from Jacob and looked in the direction that the poke was coming from. I saw the face of an angry looking woman with who I assumed was her daughter sitting next to her with her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"What?" The woman rolled her eyes. And whispered in a harsh tone at me.

"What do you mean, 'what'? What is wrong with you two?"

"I wasn't aware we were doing anything wrong."

"Well you are. This is not the time or the place to make out. There are people around you and we don't want to see that." The girl sitting next to her whined a little and shook her head in her hand at her mother.

"Mom, it's none of our business. They aren't asking you to look at them, you did that on your own." I pointed at the girl.

"What she said."

"It's inappropriate. And I'll have you know I have a cockeye, so all I see is you two making out when I'm trying to watch the movie." Then the guy in front of us turned and looked at the woman.

"Look, lady, if they're bothering you so damn much, then move to another seat. And shut up, we're trying to watch the movie. And frankly, their making out wasn't interrupting my movie going experience, so I don't care what they're doing."

The man and the woman kept arguing quietly and inevitably involving other people in our row and the row ahead of us and the row ahead of them. Jacob and I sat there for a few minutes staring at the screen trying to ignore everyone. Before we knew it. Twelve rows were arguing with each other. I buried my face into Jacob's sweat shirt trying to ignore the noise. Jacob kept his arm around me and did his best to ignore everyone too. Finally, ten minutes after everyone had started arguing, someone who worked at the theatre stopped the movie, turned on the lights and announced to everyone that they needed to either leave the theatre or be quiet and let everyone enjoy the rest of the movie. Jacob and I, along with about twenty other couples, just decided to leave the movie theatre.

"I wonder how many people that's happened to." Jacob said as we walked out to the parking lot to his car. I shrugged.

"Hopefully, a lot. But I didn't see anyone else get yelled at for kissing."

"We just had to sit next to the woman with a cockeye." I giggled.

"Well, in all truthfulness, she sat next to us, so we're not really at fault for this." Jacob smiled.

"Whatever you say, Nessie. Let's just be more cautious next time, okay. That's assuming Edward never finds out about this." I giggled.

"What planet are you on, Jacob?" Jacob looked at me and smiled a little.

"You're right. He'll find out somehow. If not from our thoughts, from someone else's."

"Should we just tell him?" Jacob gave me a look that asked if I was sane.

"I don't think so, Nessie. I'd like to possibly be able to take you to a movie again." I smiled and hugged Jacob's waist.

"Point taken. Do you think he'll be mad if he finds out?"

"What do you think, Nessie?" I giggled and kept hugging Jacob not really responding to his rhetorical question.

Jacob found a restaurant in Port Angeles after we left the movie theatre. He was hungry after today. It was four in the afternoon and he hadn't eaten since breakfast. It was a small Italian restaurant that was affordable and wasn't too full considering the hour. The waitress didn't question me when I didn't want anything. I think she was concentrating on Jacob. Jacob ordered a Pepsi and some grilled chicken and left it at that. I sat close to Jacob the whole time we were there, holding his hands and such. When his food was here, I let my hand rest on his knee and we talked a little while he ate.

When he was done, we left the restaurant and just went home. Jacob had patrol tonight, so he had to drop me off at home. When we were in the garage, Jacob and I had one last, loving kiss before I got out and watched him drive off. I walked into the house and saw Ryan and Valerie on the floor playing together. They were trying to put a puzzle together. Emmett and Rosalie stayed close to them and watched. It looked like a puzzle that was supposed to make a picture of the Saint Basil Chapel in Moscow, Russia. Ryan and Valerie were already starting to look like toddlers and they were so adorable. You could see Emmett's dimples whenever they laughed and smiled. And they were talking now, so they were able to tell each other that they were doing the puzzle wrong. I laughed a little as I watched Ryan take a piece that Valerie was holding telling her it was supposed to go in one place, only to find that it didn't and Valerie had been right the first time.

Rosalie told me that momma and daddy were out hunting with Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie had simply downed the donated blood with Valerie and Ryan. Everyone wanted to be sure they were ready for the wedding tomorrow, where there would be a lot of humans. I stayed at the house awhile a snatched myself two of the last containers of donated blood and drank those while I helped Valerie and Ryan make the puzzle. Like Emmett and Rosalie, Ryan was almost painfully stubborn. So he never took well to being wrong. Valerie was a little more quiet than Ryan, but she was just as stubborn. She simply knew how to be such and make it seem cute. Jacob teased that she had dimples that could persuade Donald Trump to give all his money to the poor, which probably wasn't far from the truth. He also teased that Ryan's stubbornness would make anyone think the sun was the moon.

They both fell asleep before we even finished the puzzle. Rosalie and Emmett took them upstairs to their room, which had once been daddy's room, and put them in their crib to sleep for the night. Alice had already bought them outfits for the wedding tomorrow. Ryan was going to be in the cutest little khaki pants and white shirt while Valerie would be in a sweet little pink dress with flowers around the waist of the dress and cute little white buckled shoes. When Emmett and Rosalie were upstairs, I left and walked back to the cottage to go to bed. I did my nightly routine and was in bed by the time it was nine. I woke up to someone kissing me gently. I kept my eyes closed and kept kissing Jacob while breathing in his scent. When he took his lips away from mine, I finally opened my eyes and smiled at him.

"Morning, Nessie."

"Morning, Jacob." I looked over him and realized he was wearing his dress pants and the shirt he'd bought yesterday. "You're dressed for the wedding already?"

"Yeah. I wanted to get here early. Truth be told, I wanted to ride with you guys. You know, stay close to you." Jacob winked at me and I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Jacob, you know I'm a big girl right?" He nodded.

"I still want to stay close to you. Another teenage boy is asking you to dance over my dead body." I giggled and shook my head at him.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Jacob grinned.

"You'd told me that once or twice." Jacob kissed me again and pulled me into his arms and out of bed. "New get your makeup on. I gave Alice and Rosalie your dress and shoes, and they want you to have your makeup done before they start your hair and get you in the dress.

"Alright. Wait for me in the living room then." Jacob smiled and walked out of the room and went to the living room to wait for me. I walked to the bathroom and did my morning routine. I went back to my room and played around with my makeup a bit until I thought of something that would look nice. I went with light pink lip color and dark eyeliner and mascara with a smudge of light brown eye shadow.

When I was ready, Jacob and I walked hand in hand back to the house. Rosalie and Alice were ready and waiting for me. They pulled me upstairs were they both did my hair and had it done in minutes then put me into my dress. They gave me a diamond necklace that they thought would go nicely with my shoes and dress and a silver hand purse that would hold my makeup and phone. Valerie and Ryan watched and Ryan started pouting when Alice started dulling him up. Ryan really was a boy. He made it his lot in life to always play in the mud and have a scrap on his knee that would heel almost instantly. Valerie didn't mind being made to look pretty. She thought dresses made her look like mommy, as she'd said. Rosalie lit up from the statement and had always had her in a dress ever since then.

When everyone was ready, we waited downstairs until it was time to go. I played with Ryan and Valerie, helping them to put together the puzzle from last night. Jacob even pitched in. Though I think Jacob was a bad influence. In a way, he sort of nurtured Ryan's stubbornness. It infuriated Valerie, but even so, she hated being away from Ryan. If they were ever separated, both would throw a fit and wouldn't stop until they were close to each other again. On the drive to the wedding, I went in the car with Jacob and he followed behind momma and daddy and Jacob started a strange little conversation.

"What do you think our kids will be like?" I looked at Jacob for a moment thoughtfully before answering.

"They'll look like you, that much I'm sure of. I'm hoping they won't have your stubbornness, though. Other than that, I think they'll be either more like you or more like me."

"You think so?" I nodded.

"Either that or they'll be a combination of us. But I don't think it always happens that way. You'd think that a kid would be influenced equally by both parent, but oddly enough, they don't."

"Yeah. You're more like Edward at times. You have enough Bella in you to make up for it, but you have a lot of Edward." I smiled.

"I know. Momma says I'm daddy's little girl in more ways than one." Jacob grinned.

"That's for damn sure. All you have to do is bat your eyelashes and Edward's putty in your hands."

"So are you. And you'll be exactly the same way and you know it." Jacob grinned a little wider.

"Yeah, I know." We laughed together as he drove. When he spoke again, his voice was really hopeful. "I can't wait." I smiled wider.

"Me either." When I looked at Jacob, his face changed a little. It was happy, but it was a different kind of happy. It was like something had just clicked in his head and he felt really good about it. "What are you thinking about, Jacob?" He kept looking at the road with the same grin on his face as he shook his head.

"Nothing, Nessie. Nothing at all."


	14. Bells of White

Bells of White

When Jacob and I got to the wedding, we were one of the last people there. I was surprised when I saw Aida there. She was sitting next to her mom, and whom I was assuming her dad. This would be the first time I ever met her dad. All I knew was, evidently, he was having a long going affair with the mother of the bride. Jacob and I took a seat next to them and the ceremony started shortly after we took out seats. Momma and daddy were sitting with Angela and Ben. The others were sitting in the row behind them. I knew a handful of people that were there, others I knew from pictures in my parent's year book. I recognized Lauren in an instant. She was the only person, aside from Angela, that I'd ever met in person and I'd met her when I was with Jacob at a grocery store and she'd sneered at me when she knew I was Bella's daughter. I didn't need to know her to not be very fond of her.

When the music started, everyone looked towards the back and watched Jessica walk down the aisle with a smile on her face looking at Mike. Mike was looking at her to, though I noticed he'd been glancing at momma on and off while he was waiting. I didn't know much about the story between momma and Mike and it wasn't enough of my business for me to care. When Jessica reached Mike, the priest started the ceremony and told them everything there was to being husband and wife. Jacob took a hold of my hand during the ceremony and we held hands the whole time. His thumb would caress my thumb and knuckles tenderly and I would see dad get a weird look on his face. It wasn't angry or sad or upset of any kind. But it wasn't necessarily happy either. It was a Protestant wedding, so it went by pretty quickly. When they said I do and kissed, we all clapped and they smiled as they walked back down the aisle together. The family stayed for pictures and Jessica begged momma and daddy to be in a picture with her and Mike when she saw them. Momma was reluctant, but Jessica was subtly not taking no as an answer.

Afterwards, we left and started driving to Port Angeles where Mike and Jessica's reception was being held. As we were driving, Jacob looked a little starry eyed and had that same little smile on his face that he'd gotten when we were talking on the way to the wedding. I hadn't asked him about it after he'd promised it was nothing, but I knew Jacob well enough to know he was lying to me. And I knew daddy well enough to know when he did or didn't like something Jacob was thinking. But I wasn't sure what daddy thought about it. That was the problem. When we got to the restaurant, I was a little surprised by it. I figured Jessica was a little flashy by nature, but I never thought she would go to the trouble of getting a reservation at The Grill. It was a newer restaurant in the area, but it was a really good place where it was hard to get a reservation.

"Wow." I looked at Jacob and smiled at the surprised look on their face.

"Have you ever been here?" Jacob shook his head.

"Nope. Even if I wanted to, I hear there's currently a month long waiting list for this place." I giggled.

"Who told you that?"

"Amanda did. Evidently, she's dating someone who works here and she got in without a reservation." I shrugged.

"When you're free, everything else is too, I guess." Jacob chuckled a little and kissed my forehead.

"All I can say is the food better have diamonds in it if people have to wait so long to get to eat here." I smiled and kissed Jacob's cheek.

"I wouldn't bank on it." We kissed and smiled at each other a little longer before he took my hand and we walked together into the restaurant. We were one of the first people at the reception seeing as we were the faster drivers. My family was already there sitting with glasses filled with something they wouldn't be drinking.

Emmett and Rosalie were holding Valerie and Ryan close to them. I could never get used to how cute they looked. It was all the cuter to look at Ryan and instantly know that he hated wearing the little tuxedo and couldn't wait to rip it off and roll around in mud just to make Rosalie mad. The thought made me and daddy both laugh. Valerie was a little more accustomed to being dressed up and looked far more comfortable than her brother. She'd been playing with her hair through most of the wedding and wasn't doing much more than that right now. She would rest her head on Emmett's shoulder and just twirl her hair around looking bored.

Jacob was nice enough to drink my root beer for me along with the Corona he ordered. I only needed to smell it to know I wouldn't like it. Jacob was, again, nice enough to not kiss me for a while when he was drinking that. The newlyweds and their parents were the next ones to get there. The other guests arrived in randomly dispersed groups. Aida immediately took a seat next to me when she finally got there. I was surprised to see Coralline there. I never thought this was something she would be made to go to. But Coralline sat next to Jacob and smiled at him politely before she started talking to the friend she'd brought with her. Another guy took a seat next to Aida that I could swear I'd seen before. He had fake black hair and dark brows with platinum blonde along his long bangs and he had snake eye lip piercings, a piercing on his left brow and both his cartilages were pierced. When I looked at his neck, I could see part of a large dragon tattoo that was covered by the suit he was very obviously reluctantly wearing. He also had red eyes. They weren't a vampire's red eyes. Only the eyes of a guy that needed glasses and was making the most of it by getting red colored contacts that purposely made him look gruesome. I finally remembered him, but it was from a while ago.

"Is this the guy that worked at the Spirit Halloween up here?" Aida nodded.

"Yep, this is him. Can you believe it's been almost two years?" I shook my head.

"I really can't. I never pictured you tolerating someone for that long." Jacob laughed a little when he heard that and Aida just stuck her tongue out at me. Then she looked at him and snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention. He was now looking at me, but in truth, the man looked a little out of it.

"Nessie, this is Zeppelin. Zeppelin, meet Nessie." He smiled a little.

"Hi." Then he looked away and ordered scotch on the rocks when the waiter got to him.

"He's a man of many words, Aida." She smirked and nodded her head.

"He just doesn't talk much. That's what I like about him."

"Aida." Aida paid closer attention to me when I said her name. "Is he drunk…..or high?" She shrugged.

"Just a dooby. Nothing serious." I nodded my head, having no clue was a dooby was. "A dooby is pot, Nessie." I nodded again.

"I see. Shouldn't he be laughing then?"

"Some people do. But pot makes him mellow."

"Clearly." Jacob was the one to speak next.

"Is Zeppelin his real name?" Aida nodded.

"Zeppelin Freidman. His parents were huge fans." Jacob shrugged and took a sip of his beer.

I looked back over at Rosalie and Emmett so I could be entertained by Ryan. His pout was so exaggerated that it was funny. We also recently found out he likes venison. It happened by accident, of course. Emmett had taken Ryan and Valerie hunting, Ryan caught a deer and he started drinking its blood, but then he started eating the meat. Emmett was grinning all the way back home. Evidently, venison had been something he really liked when he was human and he was happy his son inherited his taste. He even remembered his dad's recipe for venison sausage and made some for Ryan. He ate the whole plate in under ten minutes. Valerie, on the other hand, took one bite and never wanted to eat it again.

When all the guests were at the reception, the waiters started taking our orders. We were allowed to pick anything on the menu, so I picked something easy. I figured Jacob needed some greens anyway, so I ordered a salad to start. Jacob ordered the soup of the day and ate both with a smile on his face. No one appeared to notice. And even if they did, they would just assume he was a pig. I heard daddy chuckle a little when the thought crossed my mind. Then I ordered chicken, not wanting to go with anything too extravagant. Jacob did the same, knowing he was going to be eating most of my food anyway.

The whole dinner went by with most everyone talking to Mike and Jessica and wishing them luck and congratulations. I could tell that Jessica was in love with the attention she was getting from everyone. She seemed to shine from it. Momma and daddy primarily talked to Angela and Ben through the whole dinner. After dessert of brownie cake and French vanilla ice cream, it was time for Mike and Jessica to cute the cake. The cake was enormous. The whole thing was over three feet tall. And it was white with assorted colored flowers with a fabric design on the Fonda and a little bride and groom figurine on the top. There was a round of applause when they fed each other a bite of cake. Then the waiters gave everyone their own slice of cake. But, the cake had coconut, so Jacob wouldn't eat it. He tolerated a bite of mine, but no more than that.

"Why would they pick coconut for their wedding cake? It's gross."

"Some people like coconut."

"And I'm not one of them. I've always hated coconut." I smiled.

"How funny that Rachael doesn't." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"My sister's always been weird, so it's no surprise."

"Why is it that brothers and sisters are always so mean to each other?" Jacob shrugged.

"We just are. Some brothers and sisters are really close like Ryan and Valerie, and Armando and Octavia. But most of the world's brothers and sisters pester each other into insanity. That's what Rachael and Rebecca always did to me."

"Rachael doesn't do that to you."

"Yeah, because she 'matured', or something. Honestly, every time I would come home and say, 'guys, I got a B on my test', Rachael would say, 'Oh you got a B, well I have a license'." I rolled my eyes and giggled while Jacob took a hold of my hand and started rubbing my knuckles with his thumb again.

"That doesn't sound like Rachael, I have to say."

"You didn't grow up with Rachael." I sighed at him with a smile and looked over at Jessica and Mike when they had their first dance as husband and wife. I didn't recognize the song, but it was a pretty, slow song that almost made you fall in love with the first person you saw.

Jacob held my hand through the whole song as he had through most of the day. I saw all the members of my family cuddling to each other and holding hands. Emmett and Rosalie put Ryan and Valerie down so they could dance, though not very well, to the slow song while everyone took pictures of the happy couple and my two cousins dancing the disco, making themselves the real center of attention. Jacob and I got a good laugh out of watching those two. They stopped after about a minute of the song and let everyone concentrate on the bride and groom again. At the end of their first dance, we all clapped and another song came on that the guests were supposed to join in. To this day, I never understood why people did the chicken dance at weddings. I was relieved when my family didn't participate in the dance. Daddy smirked at me when I thought that, assuring me that it was something they'd never do. Especially not mom. Everyone remembered her as being a klutzy dancer, so dancing of any kind wasn't a good idea. Momma and daddy would have a slow dance or two, but that was about it.

While we waited for the chicken dance to be over, Jacob ordered himself a Pepsi and we talked a little while everyone danced. Aida would normally be talking to me, but she was more interested in Zeppelin at the moment. Then I saw momma and daddy get up from their chairs to share a slow dance together. Jacob noticed them too and looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes.

"You want to dance?" I smiled and listened to the beginning of the song. It was Breath You In, a song I was fond of.

"Sure."

**JPOV**

When I got Nessie to the floor, I held her close to me and just swayed. Even after all the grace I'd magically gotten from shape shifting, I still wasn't much of a dancer. Nessie tied her arms around my neck and tried to be close to me. Even in five in heels, she couldn't reach any further than my chin. She didn't seem to mind, though. She just held onto me and let me lead her, whether I could really dance or not. For most of the song, her head was rested on her little nook and I started humming to the song with my lips close to her ear. I wanted to be with Nessie for a while before Edward would drag me away to talk to me.

I knew he wanted to. While we were driving to the church talking, the weirdest thought came to his head. When Nessie and I were talking about us having kids, it sort of hit me how much I really wanted that. I still wanted her to go to college and make something worthwhile of herself. But I realized that I wasn't sure how long I could wait to be married to her. I could wait to have kids with Nessie, but I didn't want to wait to marry her. Even if she was going out of state for school, I wanted to marry her. I wanted her to be mine in every way there was.

And during the wedding, I even figured out how I would ask her. I would ask her at her graduation party. Knowing Alice, there was no way Nessie would get away with graduating without a huge party to celebrate. And I would ask her in private. Possibly while we were dancing together to a song or even just drag her to the kitchen and ask her there. However I went about it, I knew it would be the best day of my life. I knew Edward and Bella would want to talk this through before I actually asked her. Edward would probably give me a pep talk of some kind or tell me everything I better not do so as to avoid him killing me. After that little talk, the only thing that would be left would be to get a ring.

When the song was over, another song came on that was really odd for a wedding. It was a song by Lady Gaga. Nessie opened her eyes and looked at everyone with a weird face as they were dancing. I kept a firm hold of her hand and pulled her with me as those that wouldn't be dancing left the floor. When we were back to our seats, Aida patted Nessie's hand to get her attention and Nessie looked at her about to listen.

"Why in the hell would they play something by Lady Gaga for a wedding? All her songs are about sex."

"I know. I always thought of her as a guilty pleasures artist, but not something to play at a wedding."

"Jacob." I looked over my shoulder and saw Edward and Bella standing behind me. Bella looked like she was none the wiser about what I was thinking. Edward was the one that looked serous and like he wanted to talk about something important.

"Yeah, Edward, Bells?" Bella smiled nicely, then looked at Nessie and started adjusting her eye makeup. My guess was that there was stray eye stuff on her cheek or something.

"Do you mind if me and Bella talk to you a moment in private?" I nodded and Bella looked at Edward with a little concern, then at me with the same look.

"Sure. No problem." Edward smiled weakly, then took Bella and left to room. I figured they would be going outside. I looked at Nessie and gave her a quick kiss.

"What did you do?" I chuckled and shrugged.

"Just stuff." Aida gave me a suspicious look that sent a chill down my spine, but ignored us for the most part and talked to Zeppelin.

"Ah-huh. What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know, Nessie. Just stuff. I'll be back in a minute." Before she could say anymore, I kissed her lips and got up from my seat towards the door.

As I figured they would be, Edward and Bella was standing outside far away from anyone smoking waiting for me to get there. I saw Edward talking to Bella, then her eyes became a little bit stunned. I suppose he was telling her what we would be talking about before he just brought it up randomly. They looked up at me and I let myself out of the restaurant and started walking the rest of the way to them. When I was close, they started walking away, closer to Edward's Volvo. I followed them without a word. When we got to his car, on the other side of the restaurant, Edward took a deep breath before he started talking in a forcefully calm tone.

"This is sudden."

"How is it sudden? You already knew I wanted to marry her."

"Yes. But I was under the impression you would wait until after she was out of college. That's what you'd been thinking all this time. This is a sudden change of opinion." Bella stayed quiet, but she listened attentively, ready to jump into the conversation at any time necessary.

"I know it is. And I'm sorry if it took you by surprise. I just don't want to wait that long to be married to her. I'll wait for the kids, but not marriage."

"You do remember that Bella and I also have a say in this." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement.

"Yes, Edward, I know that. That's why we're talking right now as opposed to me just popping the question out of nowhere."

"I know, and I appreciate that you were willing to talk about this before you did anything." Bella patted Edward's arm and looked at me when he was silent.

"Look, Jacob, you have to understand how we're feeling about this. I know that you love Renesmee and I know that you would do anything for her and give her anything and that you're in a position to be able to talk care of her. But it's more than that."

"We won't start a family yet, Bella. I promise that."

"You say that, Jacob, but think about it from our perspective." She sighed, then continued. "Take me and Edward. It took a little persuading, yes, but I was planning to go to college with Edward before he changed me. You know, experience college, as Edward had put it. But the fact of the matter is that Renesmee got involved. I found out I was pregnant, everything happened and I ended up having to change to save my life."

"That won't happen to Nessie."

"Jacob, I mean it. I know she's stronger than I was and the problems I faced wouldn't be an issue for her. But seriously, Jacob. Why should your child have to sit at home with us waiting for mommy to get back from class? A lot of young couples say they'll be careful, but they end up pregnant within a year."

"But Bella, you two were different. You didn't think it was possible, so you didn't bother with protection. I know it's possible and I know how to avoid it. I didn't sit through years of awkward Sex Ed classes with a wrinkly old gym teacher and come out of it with nothing." Bella did laugh a little, but Edward wasn't much in the mood.

"That doesn't mean they're fool proof." I shrugged.

"I know that. But it's better than nothing. And there's always birth control. Carlisle could get some for Nessie pretty easily." Edward sighed and shook his head.

"No, Jacob, he can't." I gave him a weird look.

"Why not? He's a doctor."

"A general practitioner. To get any form of birth control, Nessie needs to go to a gynecologist."

"Why can't Carlisle just take care of Nessie?" Edward sighed heavily.

"Jacob, think about what a gynecologist has to do." I looked at him a minute and my eyes widened a little. When Edward heard the realization in my head, he said, "My point exactly."

"Okay, fine, she has to see someone else for them. But that doesn't mean she can't get them. And for that matter, why is Carlisle willing to help deliver a baby, but not give Nessie an examination?"

"Because, Jacob. Carlisle doesn't want to go probing around his granddaughter's vagina. It's weird. Delivering a baby for her will be weird enough for him. The last thing either of them would want is…that." Bella interrupted us to say something.

"Edward, Jacob." Edward and I looked at Bella to listen to what she wanted to say. "Nessie has just as much say in this whole thing as we do. If Nessie is willing to see another doctor and takes the right precautions, then maybe this could work." Bella looked directly at me. "But I mean it, Jacob. I'm not ready for my five year old to have a child. So avoid it." I nodded.

"Don't worry Bella. I won't. I'm not ready for a baby either. Not yet." Bella smiled then and looked back at Edward.

"Is that alright, Edward?" Edward became thoughtful. Bella and I waited for his response. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded reluctant.

"If she gets pregnant, Jacob, so help me god…"

"You make me a throw rug. I know."

"Glad we came to that understanding." I smiled a little at him.

"Any time, Edward." Bella decided to change the subject a little and looked at me with a smile.

"So I assume you have a plan." I nodded.

"I thought I should do it after graduation. Like the party or something."

"That's a good idea. And once that's done, throw the reigns to Alice and she'll have you two married within a month." I smiled a little wider.

"Sounds like a plan." Edward spoke next.

"That's assuming Nessie says yes." Bella and I looked at Edward and gave him a mean look. Bella probably had up her shield to let Edward know exactly how wrong his comment was. Bella had gotten so much practice with her shield that it was second nature by now. "I'm just saying."

"Edward." Edward looked at Bella with a loving smile.

"Yes, Bella?"

"Shut up."

When we had our conversation, Edward and Bella and I walked back into the restaurant to rejoin the wedding party. When we got back, Alice and Jasper were dancing to a slow song and Rosalie was dancing with Ryan and Emmett with Valerie, Ryan and Valerie standing on their shoes as they moved. They still looked like they were three, But Ryan was a tall three year old. Valerie was a little taller, but nowhere near as much as Ryan. Carlisle and Esme had danced earlier on and were sitting together at their table talking to each other and holding hands. But I didn't see Nessie there. I saw Aida sitting at her table with her date talking to him about something I assumed I didn't want to know anyway. I walked over to her and took a seat. When I was sitting, Aida kissed her date, then turned to look at me. She had a wicked smile on her face and it made me shiver.

"So." I shrugged.

"What?"

"Not what. You and Nessie's parents were out there talking about something."

"That's none of your business anyway."

"I know. But I'm bored. So tell me, what are you up to?" I rolled my eyes.

"It's none of your business, Aida."

"Tell me anyway." I looked at her a moment with a blank stare for a moment. She kept staring too. "I'm a master at the staring game, Jacob. Just talk." I finally rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Fine." I looked around to make sure Nessie wasn't close by. She had good hearing, so I was worried she would hear anyway. "What's your number?" Aida smiled and handed me a little slip of paper with numbers. When I had it in my phone, I walked out of the restaurant again so I wouldn't have to worry about Nessie seeing what we were saying.

_Before I tell you anything, you have to swear you won't tell Nessie._ Once I had that sent, the conversation started.

_Yeah, yeah, don't tell Nessie. I get it. Spill._ I looked at my phone reluctantly a moment. I wasn't sure I should tell her. But at the same time, she would never leave me alone if I didn't. And she'd probably tell Nessie was up to something. Not that she hadn't figured that out all on her own anyway. But why make it worse?

_I'm going to ask Nessie to marry me after her graduation. Edward, Bella, and I were just smoothing a few things out and talking things out. That's all._ I waited a moment before I got a text. I was surprised by it when I did get it.

_DIRTY OLD GOBBLER BITCH FUCKER! You're finally gonna do it! It's about fucking time! You've got the girl on such a sexual high wire, she looks like she's ready to hump the first thing in pants._ I rolled my eyes before responding.

_You're so lucky you're Nessie's friend. _

_Ooooh, I'm shaking. So what's the ring look like, Romeo?_

_I haven't picked a ring yet. This was a recent decision._

_Whatever. But be sure to tell her soon. I'm sure she'll bend over backwards for the idea. *Wink, Wink*_

_Don't tell Nessie! You hear? Don't tell her. _

_Don't get your furry boxers in a knot, sugar tits, I won't tell her. I leave that all up to you._

I didn't send a response to that. I was trying not to get angry. Where did she get off calling me sugar tits? It still baffled me that Nessie could befriend a girl like Aida. She was such a vulgar girl. It was like listening to one of those bad heavy metal bands that opened for Slipknot. They didn't even sing. They just threw shit and fuck into their songs at every blink of an eye while fans try to boo them off stage. I laughed a little as the New Years concert came to his head. He remembered all the people that had attempted to have their friends throw them onto the stage and only have it end in disaster. Nessie had laughed every time it happened.

I walked back into the restaurant and was relieved to see Nessie back at her seat waiting for me. She was talking to Aida, but she didn't look like she was surprised or happy about something. She looked the way she always did. I smiled and walked over to our table and put my hands on the back of her chair and held onto it as I pulled her chair at an angle with her still in it until she was looking up at me. She smiled and crossed her arms waiting for me to say what she was assuming I wanted to say.

"Are you having fun?" She giggled and looked towards the dance floor.

"Not as much as they are." I looked where she was looking and saw a bunch of people dancing around Jessica and Mike with glasses in their hands dancing awkwardly to a Kate Perry song. Then Jessica and Mike were suddenly being carried around the dance floor by all their drunken friends. Broken bones that were just waiting to happen. "You see, this is one of those stories that always start with, 'And then we started drinking tequila'." I chuckled and leaned down and kissed her.

"That's what you get for waking up in Vegas." Nessie laughed at my little joke and kissed me again.

"Exactly. Before you know it, Jessica will kiss a girl and like it." I laughed with her as we continued the joke a little.

"I hope Mike don't mind it." We laughed a little more and just kissed.

"Jacob."

"Yeah, Nessie?"

"When we do get married, let's not serve anyone tequila, okay." I smiled and nodded my head. I felt warm all over when we started talking about it. It made me smirk to see that she didn't realize how close the wedding in question would be. There was no doubt in my mind that she would say yes. We loved each other too much for her to want to wait.

"Tell that to Embry. He loves tequila." Nessie shrugged.

"Not at my wedding he doesn't." I chuckled and shook my head.

"I love you, Nessie." She smirked and I smiled back.

"Shut up and out your money where your mouth is." I chuckled at her little joke and kissed her again. We heard Aida clear her throat at us and we reluctantly stopped kissing each other. I put Nessie's seat back on all fours and took my seat next to her and started holding her hand again.

The reception lasted for hours. By the end of the night, most of the people there were too drunk to drive home and Charlie insisted that everyone check into a hotel for the night. He let me go at least. One beer was hardly enough to make me unable to drive home. Edward and Bella took Nessie back to the house at the end of the night. I asked if I could bring her back with me, but he said no, in so many words. I guessed tonight's conversation made him not want to send Nessie home with me. Bella made me not argue and they were off with everyone else. Before Nessie left, I gave her a loving kiss that didn't last as long as I would have liked it to. She kissed my nose after that before getting in the car and Edward drove away.

No matter what, I was smiling the whole drive home. I wasn't sure how it felt for other people when they made a decision like this, but for me, it was the best feeling in the world. And unlike a lot of other couples, Nessie and I talked about getting married so much it was like we were already planning for it and we were already engaged. The only thing I was nervous about was finding a ring. I knew exactly what Nessie would like. I just needed to find a place that had it or at least had something similar to what I have in my head. It was one of those things where everyone told me that if I knew my girlfriend well enough, the perfect ring would just jump out at me. I was really hoping for that kind of luck.

When I was home, I went up to my apartment and took of my dress clothes as fast as I could. I rarely ever wore anything more than jeans and a t-shirt or a tank. Clothes like that were convenient and easy to get off in case of an emergency and I needed to get to the woods fast. The stuff I'd worn to the wedding made feel stuffy and restricted and I wasn't crazy about it. When I had that stuff in the hamper, I took a long hot shower that I needed. It helped me unwind a little. I suddenly thought that one of Nessie's backrubs would feel great right now.

When I was done with my shower, I put on my sweats and went to bed hoping to get some sleep. But I wasn't really tired. I felt silly about it, but I wanted to talk to Nessie. I glanced over at my phone and picked it up. I started typing in her number and waited a moment before I actually pressed call. Nessie answered by the third ring and when she spoke, her voice was teasing.

"_You're lucky my daddy isn't home to hear you calling at one in the morning." _ I chuckled.

"You're daddy doesn't sleep. I hardly think my calling would disturb him." Nessie and I laughed together a bit before she started talking again.

"_Did I leave something at your place?"_

"No, you didn't. I just wanted to call you. My neck feels stiff."

"_That's a shame. Sorry I'm not there to get the kinks out."_ I chuckled.

"Me too. One of your rubs would feel really good right about now."

"_Maybe I can give you one tomorrow if you're still stiff."_ I smiled to myself.

"I'd like that, baby. I'll be at the house as soon as I wake up, okay. And I'll be waking you us, just so you know. I won't wait for you to get your beauty sleep before I get the knots out of my neck." She giggled and responded in a teasing tone.

"_It's always you, you, you, isn't it?"_ We laughed together and I responded the only way I could.

"Sorry, honey."

"_You should be."_ We laughed a little longer, then she started talking again. _"What were you and Aida texting about by the way? She said you had something you wanted to tell her."_ Any comfort I'd felt was gone when she said that. I tried not to let my annoyance show. Instead, I tried to sound normal.

"Nothing important. I just wanted her help with something."

"_What? With me?"_

"No, not you. Something else."

"_What was it?"_ It took me a moment to think of something. I couldn't think of anything.

"Nothing important." I could tell Nessie wanted to say more, even through the phone. But she dropped the matter and changed the subject.

"_Whatever you say, Jacob. I better get to bed or I'll be in bed till two in the afternoon. You know how daddy hates it when I do that."_ I smiled a little.

"Yeah, I know. I'll let you go then. Night Nessie."

"_Night, Jacob. I love you."_ I smiled wider to myself.

"I love you too." With that, Nessie and I both hung up and I laid in bed trying not to let my excitement over today keep me from sleeping.


	15. Pores of Color

**Pores of Color**

"Did you get the lab done, Danny?" Danny was my new lab partner in our AP Bio class. When I asked my question, he gave me a halfhearted guilty smile.

"I was actually hoping I could look at yours." I sighed and let my head fall on top of my hands onto the lab table and groaned quietly. When he spoke again, his voice sounded panicked. "You mean you didn't do it either?"

"Yes, I did do it. I'm just upset that you didn't." Danny lost the concern on his face and replaced it with his usual begging face while he was already looking at my paper.

"As long as you got it done, Nessie." I sighed.

"You know, Danny, I'm not going to let you do this anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"You're an AP kid, you figure it out." His face started becoming panicked.

"Oh come on, Nessie. Please don't do that. I never have time for this sort of stuff." I fought the need to roll my eyes and just looked forward and kept my voice flat.

"Sure you don't have time. Oh no, I have school. Oh, I have tennis practice. That only leaves late afternoon to do my homework. You're right, your days are so hectic." I said the last few sentences with sarcasm in my voice.

"And I work."

"On Saturday and Sunday. Cry me a river."

"Come on, Nessie, don't be like this." Before Danny could beg me any further, our teacher came to our table and checked our lab homework, which Danny didn't do. I felt a little sense of triumph that he didn't get points that day. He really was a deadbeat partner, so getting his just desserts was very rewarding.

Aida took the news a little too well when I told her at lunch. She knew Danny from their math class in junior high and hated him ever since. She thought he was pretentious and cocky and wasn't nearly as smart as he liked to make himself off to be. She even claimed that she caught him cheating on a test, but the teacher took his side over hers. I wasn't sure how true that last part was, but I didn't think it was out of character for him to cheat. He would never be able to pass AP Bio if he didn't for how much he was worth during labs. AP Bio was a hard class. Even I needed to study to pass. Partly because the teacher never taught us anything. He would go on a little rant about rocks or trees and talk nothing about the unit that we were studying, leaving it to us to read and reread the chapter until we understood it. The only help we got from the teacher was that the unit was always written on the board.

"I swear, I wish he would just get caught already."

"Well, he hasn't, so don't get all upset about it."

"I will get all upset about it. He was an eighth grader in a seventh grade math class. And now he's in advance placement biology? I don't think so."

"Biology and Math aren't the same classes."

"And yet he's also in Calculus. I'm only in Trig."

"And I'm in AP Calculus. So there, I'm smarter than him."

"Well, I already knew that. It just pisses me off that he acts like he's the smartest fucker on legs."

"Take joy in the knowledge that he's not. That's all you can do." Aida sighed and calmed the conversation.

When it was time for gym, Aida and I got dressed quickly and went to the gym to wait for class to start. We were doing a volleyball unit again, so we just picked a court and waited for the rest of our team to assemble and for our opponents. As we waited, Aida had a smile on her face and looked like she wanted to tell me something. She started telling me about it once we were alone waiting for our other teammates at the furthest most court in the gym.

"Guess what." I shrugged.

"I don't know. What?" She smiled wider.

"I'm getting a tattoo this Saturday." My eyes widened, but I wasn't all that surprised. What did surprise me was that her parents were allowing it.

"Your parents are letting you get a tattoo?" She shook her head with a laugh.

"You kidding? They'd skin me if they found out."

"Then how are you getting a tattoo this Saturday?" She grinned wider.

"I forged mom's signature on the permission form and I'm getting it done at the Pores of Color tattoo shop in Port Angeles. It's where my boyfriend gets all his tattoos done." I laughed a little.

"If you don't mind my asking, how many tattoos does Zeplane have?" Aida smiled affectionately, which was an odd sight to see.

"He has a huge red and black dragon going all around his chest, shoulders and back. He has a dagger on the back of his neck, a black widow spider on his left wrist, a tree frog behind his right ear, an alligator on his right arm, red lips on his right wrist, the Korn logo on his right ankle, the Slipknot logo on his left ankle, Goliath from Gargoyles on his left foot…" I stopped her.

"Who?" Aida looked surprised.

"You've never watched Gargoyles?" I shook my head.

"No, never." She sighed.

"I'll have to remedy that sometime. That'll be on our to do list for winter break. But Goliath is the leader and main character of Gargoyles. He's a total badass. I question his sanity for helping out Xanitos after all that crap he pulled, but whatever."

"You talk like I should know who Xanitos is." She shrugged.

"You will, don't worry. But anyway, he has Goliath on his left foot, the issues doll on his right foot, a really colorful mushroom patch right above his crotch, and my all time favorite, the pinup on his right inner thigh. It's a mermaid with brown hair and a purple tail and she's wearing a seashell bra that's barely covering her boobs and seaweed for straps that are hanging off her shoulders and she's wearing a seashell crown and is sitting on a coral reef with a shark swimming around her. It's pretty fucking hot." I blinked a few times before talking.

"That's a lot of tattoos." She grinned and nodded her head.

"Yep. And I love them all." I kept looking at her with a weird look on my face. Then she looked back at me with her evil grin. "So does Jacob have any tattoos?" I shook my head.

"Nothing that I know of."

"Nothing that you know of? Why wouldn't you know?"

"He never told me about any recent tattoos and I've never seen any." Aida laughed without humor.

"How would you know if you've….." Her face became aware and her evil smile widened. "Holy fuck, you did." I gave her a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You've seen him naked before." I backed away from her a little.

"That's hardly your business, Aida."

"So you say you've seen him naked and yet you two have never had sex. How the hell does that work?" She looked at me and I was saved by Madison leaping onto my back and wrapping her arms around my neck in joy.

"Hi, Nessie! I missed you!" Aida rolled her eyes and her voice was filled with sarcasm.

"I bet. You haven't seen her for an hour and a half. Oh the pain." Madison ignored Aida's comment.

"Are you ready for some intense volleyball Nessie?" I smiled and patted Madison's arm.

"You bet." She giggled and hugged me tighter before letting go of me and snatching Aida's position next to me, making her move the position behind me.

The rest of gym class went by normally. Our team won by a single point. Thankfully, Robby was on our team and he was really good at spiking the ball. Once gym was over, Aida and I got dressed quickly and started walking to my car.

"Thanks for driving me home by the way." I shrugged.

"It's okay. How long is your car going to be in the shop?"

"They said about two weeks. I should hit that guy who rear ended me over the head with the door he destroyed."

"Don't say that, Aida. He's already been ticketed for going over the speed limit and for drinking and driving while under aged. I think he's done."

"I don't. That bastard didn't even have insurance. That means getting money to pay for the damages will be all that much harder."

"And he's in a lot more trouble because of it too. So either way, I figured you would be happy. A schadenfreude moment if you will." She finally grinned a little.

"That's true." Once we were in the car, Aida was starting to daydream about the jail time the guy would be getting for the damage to her car. She didn't talk again until we were out of the school parking lot. "Anyway, we were interrupted in gym today."

"Were we?" She nodded.

"Yeah. I wanted to ask you to come with me to Pores of Color. I need someone to talk to while the guy's doing my tattoo and my boyfriend is busy this weekend."

"Why can't you talk to the tattoo artist?"

"Because he's mute." I nodded, acknowledging that I heard her.

"That would make it hard to talk to him wouldn't it?"

"Yeah. But he's really good at tattooing. He did most of my boyfriend's tattoos, one being that pinup tattoo that I love so much."

"As long as he's good at what he does." She nodded.

"He is." I sighed a little.

"I don't think daddy's going to let me go." Aida's face became critical.

"Why the fuck not?" I held back a sigh.

"Because my dad is very old fashioned, which means the only people he thinks should ever have tattoos are the old navy guys and men in the army."

"Just because you're going with me doesn't mean that you're getting one. You'll only be sitting there talking to me and looking pretty. I promise Mr. Cullens little baby won't be defiled with ink in her skin." She said the last part with a hint of sarcasm.

"Please don't call him Mr. Cullen. It sounds weird. It was bad enough hearing it from a teacher during parent teacher conference. It's even weirder from you. If you must address him as anything, just call him Edward." She smiled in humor.

"I'm honored that I get to be so formal. But seriously, come with me. I can't take anyone else but you. Anyone else would tell my parents and they'll make me get rid of it."

"They can't get rid of it. A tattoo is permanent."

"You can get laser treatments to remove the tattoo. It hurts like a son of a bitch."

"Sounds like it. I'll ask my parents about it. Maybe as long as daddy knows I'm not getting the tattoo, he'll let me go." Aida rolled her eyes.

"No, Nessie. No, no, no. You never tell your parent about this kind of shit. More childhood dreams have been destroyed by the fraise, 'I'll ask my mom' than any other fraise in the English language."

"Aida, my dad's a mind reader. Even if I wanted to, I can't lie to him. He'd know."

"Shit, I forgot about that."

"Don't worry, Aida. I'll ask daddy about it. I promise." She sighed.

"If you say so."

"I do say so." When we got to Aida's house, she got out of the car and talked to me while the door was still open.

"Text me when you know, okay?" I nodded.

"I will. See you at school tomorrow."

"You too, Nessie. Bye." Then Aida closed my door and went into her house.

I made my way back home at a leisurely pace. Jacob wasn't going to be visiting tonight anyway. He was going on patrol right after he got off work at eight tonight. His boss was making him work overtime today. I thought about the drive to Aida's house when I got close to the turn off to my house so daddy would hear me and have an answer by the time I got to the house. I parked my car in the garage and ran into the house and heard someone playing the piano. I went to the music room and saw daddy playing the piano for momma while she rested her head against his shoulder with her right hand on his knee. I went over and took a seat next to daddy and started playing the high notes of the song.

"So do you mind?" Daddy shrugged and didn't stop playing as he spoke.

"As long as you don't plan to get a tattoo, I suppose I don't mind." Momma smiled and little and kissed daddy's shoulder. Obviously, daddy already told momma about it and they'd already talked about it.

"I don't. I doubt a needle could get through my skin anyway." Daddy smiled a little.

"It could. It would just take a lot of effort on the artist's part." I smiled back.

"That's true."

"I never took Aida's parents for being okay with her getting a tattoo."

"They aren't. She forged their signatures." Daddy looked at me with a stern face.

"Renesmee."

"Daddy, it's Aida. You can't think it's beyond her to do something like that. Besides, she'd get the tattoo when she was older anyway. If anything, her parents saying no would only prolong when she would get her tattoo." Daddy sighed.

"Whatever. As long as you're not going to attempt a tattoo, I don't care." I smiled wider and hugged daddy's arm.

"I love you daddy."

"Yeah, yeah, Nessie. Put it in writing." Momma and I both giggled and hugged daddy's arms tighter before loosening our grips and watching him play piano.

Later that night, I texted Aida letting her know that I would be going with her when she got her tattoo and she sent a text back telling me to pick her up at noon. Her appointment was at one and she knew that her tattoo was going to take a while. I didn't ask what she was getting a tattoo of. I figured I could just wait until Saturday. Aida and I didn't talk about Saturday during school the next day. Forks was a town where everyone knew everyone and told everyone everything and she didn't want to risk anyone telling her parents about her getting a tattoo and being forced to get the tattoo removed. We talked a little more about it on the ride to her house. She only said that she was excited about it and was so happy to finally be getting a tattoo, but nothing about what it would actually be.

Once I got home, I went to the living room close to the music room and worked on my homework while I listened to daddy playing the piano. Because of biology, it took longer to do my homework than it had ever used to take. On more occasions than one, Jacob would come to the house from work and I'd still be working on my homework. I think Jacob wanted to help me, but he couldn't remember what he'd learned in biology and any math homework that I had was something that made his head hurt just to look at. Or so he told me. I was almost done with my homework when Jacob came to the house. He took a seat next to me on the couch and pulled me onto his lap and hugged me around my waist and kissed my neck. I giggled and hugged the arms that were around me.

"How was work?" Jacob was smiling and kissed my neck again.

"Fine. How is your homework going?"

"It's almost done. I read the chapter I needed to for biology and I'm almost done with the worksheet the teacher assigned to us." Jacob kept kissing my neck and hugged me tighter.

"You want to watch Rat Race after you're done? I'm in the mood to watch people make fools of themselves for a quick buck. I love those Lucy impersonators. And that thing with the Barbie museum never fails to make me laugh." I giggled.

"Don't forget the narcoleptic guy. And Gloria Allred, the ruthless lawyer."

"Don't forget the crazy squirrel lady. And when that one guy and his family stole Hitler's car." Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck again.

"That was a great movie."

"Just let me finish this, then we'll watch it." Jacob smiled and kept kissing my neck with me still on his lap while I worked on the last of my homework.

"Jacob, I won't have that on my couch." Jacob chuckled when he heard momma and he gently pushed me back onto the couch and settled for just stroking my hair lovingly.

"Sorry, Bella." Momma glared at Jacob teasingly and didn't say anything more. While I finished, Jacob looked through the movies until he found Rat Race and started setting it up. I was done by the time the opening credits started.

For the rest of the afternoon, Jacob and I watched Rat Race and halfway through the movie, Jacob went into the kitchen and made himself something really quickly and took it with him back into the living room to finish the movie. By the time the movie was over, it was almost nine, so Jacob and I walked back to the cottage so I could get ready for bed. When we got there and I was dressed and had done my nightly routine, Jacob was waiting outside my bathroom door and lifted me into his arms to give me a passionate and unexpected kiss. Ever since Mike and Jessica's wedding, Jacob's been increasingly affectionate. I would admit that I thought it was odd, but I wasn't going to stop a good thing.

Jacob started walking and he didn't stop until his knees hit something and he turned around and let himself fall on his back while we held each other and kissed. I was now straddling his hips and Jacob's hands traveled down from my waist to my butt and thighs where he squeezed me affectionately and gently pushed down on my hips. I moaned and bit his bottom lip gently and sucked on it so he would open his mouth. When he did, our tongues met and I laced my fingers through his short hair and gently pulled. Jacob groaned and turned us over so that he was on top of me and was holding his weight above me only by his elbows on either side of my face. Then Jacob took his lips from mine and started kissing my jaw and bit my ear gently before sucking on my earlobe and swirling his tongue along the inside of my ear, making me quiver. Then he started kissing my neck and sucking on my skin and trailing his tongue along my neck until he reached the low center of my throat and started kissing that affectionately.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" I smiled and brought his face back up so we were looking at each other.

"I'm sorry, it slipped my mind. Aida and I are going to Port Angeles tomorrow." Jacob smiled and rested his head on my shoulder after giving it a quick kiss.

"Really? What will you two be doing?"

"We're going to a place called Pores of Color." Jacob lifted his head from my shoulder to look at me and his face was suddenly serious.

"Come again?" My face turned to surprise.

"You know it?" Jacob nodded, still keeping a serious face.

"Yeah, I do. That tattoo parlor in Port Angeles. Why would you get a tattoo? Or more appropriately, how did you get Edward to agree to let you get one?" I shook my head and started smiling again.

"I'm not getting one, Aida is. It's her first tattoo and she's really excited. She wants me there so she has someone to talk to."

"Why can't she just talk to the tattoo artist?"

"Because he's mute." Jacob's face turned from upset to understanding.

"Oh. So you're going with her and will sit there for however long the tattoo will take." I nodded.

"Yep. That's all. No tattoo for me. It's for Aida." Jacob sighed in relief and smiled again while resting his head back on my shoulder.

"Alright. When are you guys going?"

"Her appointment's at one, so I'm picking her up at noon and we're leaving from her house."

"Do you know how long the tattoo will take?" I shook my head.

"No. She didn't tell me what she was getting. But I do know it'll probably be a larger one. She's getting it on her back. That I know." Jacob smiled and little. "Hey Jacob?"

"Yeah, Nessie?"

"You don't have any tattoos right?" Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck.

"No, I don't have any tattoos. I think my skin's fine the way it is." I smiled and kissed him.

"I think so too."

"Just promise you won't get one, okay." I smiled teasingly at him.

"But what if I want a tattoo?" Jacob sighed and kept smiling.

"You're perfect as you are, Nessie. You don't need embellishments." I grinned and kissed the tip of his nose.

"How sweet of you to say, Jacob." He chuckled and started kissing my shoulder again.

We fell asleep in each other's arms and I woke up with Jacob's body right on top of me with his head rested right between my breasts. I only smiled and laid in bed waiting for him to wake up too. It was only ten in the morning, so I had time to kill anyway. My hands wandered all over Jacob's back and I tried massaging out any kinks that I found. Jacob slept soundly for another hour and woke up to me rubbing his shoulder. He didn't get flustered by where his face was like I'd been half expecting him to. Instead, and pleasantly, he nuzzled my cleavage and even kissed each breast before coming back up and kissing me.

"Morning, baby." I smiled wider.

"Morning, Jacob. How'd you sleep?" Jacob sighed in contentment.

"Great. You're the best pillow I ever had." I giggled and kissed his cheek.

"Am I now?" He nodded.

"Yeah. And it pains me to ruin the moment, but I have good news and bad news." I looked at Jacob concerned.

"What's the matter?" Jacob lifted his head to look into my eyes and his face was serious. He was holding me in his arms, so I felt more secure.

"Well, the good news is that Rebecca is spending Thanksgiving with us this year." I smiled again.

"That's great, Jacob. What's the bad news with that?" Jacob's face became begrudging.

"She's bringing John." I rolled my eyes and smiled at him teasingly.

"Well, duh, Jacob. He's her husband. Of course he's coming with her." Jacob made an angry pout.

"So?" I smiled and reached up to kiss him.

"Don't be such a baby, Jacob. You'll get to see your sister for the first time in about three years. That's a happy thing. Think of John and a minor, inconvenient detail." Jacob looked at me with the same pout while a smiled at him sweetly. Finally, he sighed and brought his head back to my chest.

"If you say so, Nessie." I grinned and kissed the top of his head. "Do you need me to get off you?" I shook my head.

"It's alright. I still have plenty of time to get ready." I felt Jacob smile and kiss my shoulder before he let his head rest all its weight on my shoulder.

Jacob and I laid like that for another hour before I started getting ready. I wondered if Jacob fell back asleep, but when I started brushing his hair with my fingers and gently saying his name, he would kiss my shoulder and my neck, letting me know he was still awake. But when it was eleven thirty, I finally pushed Jacob off me and started getting ready for the day. Jacob was still laying in my bed when I came back and I had to hold back a little laugh. And it wouldn't matter to me if Jacob saw me in my bra and panties anyway, so I left the door to my closet open as I get dressed. Jacob only grinned at me whenever I looked over at him. It wasn't very cold out and I didn't want to feel overdressed when I went to the tattoo parlor, so I changed into a pair of dark wash jeans, some black red cherry flats, and my old Slipknot shirt from the New Years concert that to this day wrecked of pot.

"When did you get those?" I looked at him, then the direction of his eyes. I smiled at him.

"They're knew actually. I wanted a cute pair of flats and I liked these. Cherries are cute I think." Jacob smiled in amusement.

"So your shirt still smells bad too, huh?" I laughed under my breath and nodded.

"Yeah, it does. I guess pot never goes away." Jacob smiled and lifted himself into a sitting position on my bed before motioning for me to come over to him. I smiled and shook my head gently at him as I walked over. When I was close enough, Jacob grabbed onto my arm and waist and pulled me to him so that I was sitting on his lap. When I was there, he started kissing me passionately and immediately pushed his tongue between my lips. His tongue started tracing every part of my mouth and tickled the roof my mouth, making me giggle in my throat. His hands went straight to my hip and thigh and he pulled me closer to him as we kissed. I kept my hands on his chest and gently pulled on the grey tank that he was wearing. The hand that was on my thigh started moving to my hip, then to my waist where he squeezed affectionately. He let his hand go back down and under my shirt and did the same thing without my shirt as a barrier. I moaned and wrapped my arms around his neck so I could get closer to him. I was startled when I heard The Doom Song start to play and we both looked in the direction of my phone.

"Gir, huh?" I smiled and nodded once Jacob looked at me again.

"It's for Aida. She practically worships Invader Zim, so it only seemed appropriate. It was either that or a Foamy the Squirrel rant." Jacob chuckled.

"That's the ringtone I have for Rachael." My eyes widened a little.

"Really?" He nodded.

"Yeah. All she really ever does is lecture me most of the time, so it only seemed appropriate to warn me that a pissed off squirrel was on the phone." I giggled.

"Which rant is it?" Jacob smirked.

"The beginner's guide to being a bitch hermit." My eyes widened.

"Why? Your sister's not like that." Jacob shrugged.

"I know. But it makes her mad, so it works. It was either that or the fat song." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"She's not fat either."

"Hence the reason the fat song isn't her ringtone." I shrugged and gave Jacob one last kiss before getting off him and grabbing my car keys.

"I'll see you later Jacob." He smiled.

"Alright. I love you." I smiled back.

"I love you too." Then Jacob laid back down on my bed and I rolled my eyes and left the door open and walked out of the cottage and made my way to the house. Before I could leave, though, momma called for me to wait a moment. I looked in her direction and leaned against my car to listen to her.

"Before you go, Nessie, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"What?" Momma looked strange. It was serious as much as routine and slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, Nessie, your father and I set up an appointment for you to see a gynecologist later this week." My eyes widened a little.

"You did? Why can't Carlisle just do it?" Momma's face became slightly more uncomfortable.

"Think of it from Carlisle's standpoint and you tell me." I thought about it a moment, then shuddered.

"Okay, I see your point. So when is my appointment?"

"Monday after school. I'll meet you at the gynecologist's office in Port Angeles and they'll do what they need to do." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Alright, sounds good. So why the sudden desire to send me to the gynecologist?" Momma's face gained back a little of its seriousness.

"Well, Nessie……we were thinking about asking you if you wanted to go on the pill." My expression became surprised again.

"The pill? Why? I don't need it." Momma sighed.

"That's the thing. I don't know how much longer that will be the case. And that's all I'll say about that." I gave momma a confused expression.

"What do you mean? What do you think I'll be doing in college, momma?" Momma waved her hand indicating for me to let the matter go.

"Nothing, honey. Just be ready for it Monday, okay." I sighed and nodded.

"Alright. I will." Momma finally smiled.

"Okay, good. And have fun today. Just so you know, I'll be looking you over when you get back to make sure there isn't any ink on you." I smiled in humor.

"Alright, momma." With all that said, momma left the garage and went back into the house while I got in my car and started it.

"Nessie, stop!" I screeched from the unexpected little voice coming from my back seat and looked over my shoulder. I didn't see anyone until Valerie popped her head up from the floor of the car in the right of the car behind the front passenger's seat.

"What are you doing in here? How did you get in here?" When she spoke, it sounded calm and natural.

"The keys on the wall." I sighed.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I'm hiding from Ryan." I groaned a little and rested my forehead against the wheel.

"Hide and Seek?"

"Yep."

"Well, Valerie, you need to find a new hiding spot. I'm going out for the day." She grinned.

"Can I go with you? Ryan will never find me then."

"Yeah, because you wouldn't be in the general area of the house and that's cheating." She shook her head.

"I picked this hiding place five minutes ago. I had no way of knowing my hiding place would be moving and hence am still within the rules of the game. Changing my hiding spot would be cheating."

"Valerie, Rosalie would kill me if I took you with me to a tattoo parlor. Just find a new hiding spot. I promise I won't tell." Then I heard someone knock on the glass of my driver's side door. I looked over and saw Ryan wave at me with a big smile on his face. I sighed and motioned my head towards the back, letting him know she was back there. Ryan ran the small distance to the back door and opened it with a yell at Valerie.

They started laughing together as Ryan crawled into my back seat and started tickling Valerie. I stayed quiet and couldn't help but smile as I watched them laugh and play. The Ryan gently swatted Valerie's arm, told her she was it, and started running back to the house to hide. Valerie was sweet enough to get out of my car and go in Emmett's jeep so she could start counting to one hundred. I drove to Aida's house as fast as I could and she was waiting for me outside her house when I got there. But instead of being excited like she had been the other day, she looked upset about something. When she got into the passenger's seat, I got onto the highway until I reached the expressway and kept going.

"What's wrong? I thought you were excited." She groaned.

"I'm all the more eager to get this tattoo now."

"Why? What happened?" She was quiet a moment before she looked at me with a look of death that seemed to be directed to an unknown party.

"She's pregnant." My expression became confused.

"Who's pregnant?" Her expression became angrier.

"Mrs. Stanley." My eyes widened. "And it's my dad's." We were both silent for a moment. I only looked forward to the road. After two minutes of silence, I was the one to finally talk.

"What are they going to do?" She groaned again.

"She's keeping it. The stick up the ass is that Mr. Stanley thinks it's his and the rest of the town thinks the baby is too. The only ones who know are me, Coralline, both my parents, and their lovers, Mrs. Stanley and Mr. Newton." I was still wide eyed. In essence, I wasn't surprised that it happened, but I still was shocked. It was an odd medium to be in.

"Wow. What did your mom say about it?"

"She slapped him across the face and called him a moron and went on a rant about how careful she and Mr. Newton are and that dad should have done the same." I sighed.

"I see. But other than that, what are they going to do?"

"Nothing much. Mrs. Stanley and her husband will raise the kid like it were actually theirs and no one will be the wiser. That's the only thing they can do. Either that or admit to everyone what's really been going on and be known as the lowest of the low."

"And none of them are willing to do that." Aida laughed without humor.

"Please. I think Mrs. Stanley would rather shoot herself in the foot than admit to that. The woman's the biggest gossip in town. She'd die if she lost that power." I shrugged.

"I guess she would. So before, you were getting a tattoo because you really wanted one, now you're getting it out of spite?" Her face became thoughtful for a moment before she answered me.

"I still want the tattoo. Spiting them is only a bonus." I smiled and we both laughed a little. I was glad to at least see that I'd help some.

We finally got to the tattoo shop five minutes before she was scheduled. Luckily, the guy she had the appointment with was free and able to come over and start giving her a consultation. She told him what she wanted and he drew her a rough sketch to make sure he had in mind exactly what she wanted. I found out that Aida was planning to get a little devil woman on her back. It didn't surprise me in the least. What did surprise me was that the devil woman would be accompanied by an angel. When they were done with the consultation, we sat at the front of the shop and waited for the artist to draw it up and get it ready.

"I know the tattoo has some significance, so please enlighten me." She grinned and crossed her legs before talking.

"Well, despite all the times me and Coralline fight and bitch at each other, we really are very close. She's my best friend and always has been. I'm the demon, she's the angel." I giggled a little.

"This from the girl whose sister tried to trade her for a puppy." She laughed with me.

"She was six, so it doesn't count. Besides, she came to love me later."

"That's good at least."

"Speaking of siblings, how are your niece and nephew doing?" I smiled wider at the memory from earlier.

"They're great. They're going through a little hide and seek faze. Valerie was hiding from Ryan in my car this morning." She grinned.

"Is that way you were late?" I nodded.

"Yes. It was my niece's fault."

"Cute. So how old are the looking now. How old are they again?"

"Three and a half months. So they both look about the size of four year olds. Ryan can pass for being tall for his age."

"Holy shit, he is. Last time I saw him, the boy was already almost 3'5"." I nodded.

"I know. He takes after Emmett needless to say. And Emmett wasn't the only man in his family that grew really tall. He might end up taller than Emmett." Aida's eyes widened.

"Is that even possible?" I shrugged.

"Jacob's taller than Emmett."

"Yeah, but only by three inches or so."

"And Ryan might be the same. I doubt he'll reach Jacob's height, but it wouldn't surprise me if he were an inch or so taller than Emmett by the time he was done growing."

"Will they be going to high school at the age of three too?" She said that with a teasing tone. I smiled and nodded.

"Most likely. That's what momma and daddy did with me, so they might as well do the same. But they might wait a while just so they'll be able to tell people that Ryan and Valerie are their biological kids. It's already okay to say they're four. They've been out of high school longer than that." Aida shrugged,

"Whatever works for them I suppose." Once we were done talking, the artist working on Aida's tattoo came back and showed her the sketch he'd made. Aida confirmed that she liked it and said the same when she saw it on her back in the tracing paint. Once Aida was in the chair with her shirt off and bra unhooked while sitting backwards in a chair, the guy got started. She didn't even flinch.

"Well, now that he's started." Aida looked at me weird.

"What did you want to tell me that I now have no choice but to listen to anyway?" I smiled and answered her.

"It's about Jacob." She suddenly looked intrigued.

"What about him?"

"Well, not that I'm complaining, but he's been…..I don't know….more affectionate lately than what he usually is." Then her face became annoyed.

"Why is this a problem?" I shrugged.

"It's not, really. I'm just wondering if you might know what's caused this sudden behavior. I know there was something he talked to you about at the wedding and he sure as hell wasn't asking you for help with something." Aida looked at me with mock offense.

"Are you saying I'm not capable of good advice." I rolled my eyes teasingly.

"Aida, your idea of advice would be something like the ending scene from Team America."

"And that speech is fucking good advice. Pussies don't like dicks, but they need dicks because they're the ones that make sure that pussies don't turn into assholes. Because dicks fuck pussies and assholes. And if it weren't for them, we'd have our dicks and our pussies all covered in shit." We looked at each other for a moment in silence with only the sound of the tattooing gun filling the air.

"That is the weirdest thing you've ever said." Aida shrugged.

"Call it what you will, but the point that speech portrays remains valid."

"And what is the point of that speech if I may ask?" Aida rolled her eyes like it was obvious.

"The point is that there's a fine line between a coward and an asshole and it takes a person with guts to show them that, but sometimes those with guts don't know when to stop and cowards keep them in line. That's not exactly it, but that's the cleanest explanation I can give you." I shrugged.

"I appreciate the effort."

"You should." We both smiled a little and once we were done, I got back to the original subject.

"Sp what was Jacob talking to you about at the wedding?"

"Nothing you need to know. He asked me about something, I told him what I thought, end of story." I sighed.

"Come one, Aida. Just tell me what you guys were talking about." Aida shook her head.

"No, dude. If I tell you, then I become the bitch who told you that no one ever tells anything to anymore and it will ruin everything. So don't get your pretty little g-string in a not. You'll know what Jacob's doing in due time." My eyes widened.

"What makes you think I'm wearing a…" She interrupted me.

"It doesn't matter. It's just a saying. All you need to know is that Jacob will let you know what he's doing when he's damn well ready to tell you and he'll tell you in his own way. Clear?"

"So that's it? You're not going to tell me what's going on?" She nodded.

"Pretty much." I sighed.

"I'm assuming it's something nice?" Aida rolled her eyes.

"Abso-fucking-lutley." I smiled and she kept looking at me a little annoyed, though I knew she wasn't really annoyed with me.

"One more thing." She groaned again. "Whatever you and Jacob were talking about aside, why was he talking to you about it in the first place? You and Jacob never used to talk about anything." Aida shrugged.

"Not entirely true. Sometimes when you're bummed out, he'll come to me and ask me if I know what's bothering you or ask me favors to make you not bummed anymore. Like Halloween freshman year."

"Well and good, but nothing was bothering me." Aida sighed.

"Alright, Nessie. If you must know, Jacob didn't tell me willingly. I made him tell me what he was up to. He told me reluctantly and threatened to eat me if I ruined it. So there. Happy?" I looked at her a moment and groaned quietly.

"You didn't call him anything did you?" Aida shrugged.

"Just sugar tits." My eyes widened.

"Why would you call him that?!" Aida shrugged.

"He was getting panicky and rude with me so I told him to calm down in my own little way." I looked at her with disbelief for a moment before sighed and rubbing my face with my hand.

"Did you have to call him sugar tits?"

"I've called my boyfriend worse. And for you information, he likes it when I do."

"That's because with him, it's sexual. When you talk that way to Jacob, you're being rude. If anyone's allowed to be little him for good sex, it's me." Aida grinned.

"You should try it sometimes. The frustration makes it really hot." The tattoo artist started laughing quietly to himself as he worked and I kept looking at Aida in disbelief.

"You know what Aida."

"What?"

"Shut your face." She looked at me surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, 'shut your face'. You say it to Madison and Candy all the time. Now I'm saying it to you. Shut your face." We looked at each other for a few minutes, neither changing the looks we had on our faces. We could hear the tattoo artist laughing a little while he kept working and the sound of the radio playing kiss FM, but other than that, we were quiet.

Then Aida started laughing and I had to join her. She was laughing a lot harder than she ever really laughed before. The artist had to stop working so as not to ruin the tattoo as she laughed. It took several minutes for us to stop laughing and the artist was nice enough to wait patiently and let us laugh as hard and long as we needed to. When we both finally calmed, the guy started working on the tattoo again as we breathed to calm down. When Aida finally spoke, she still had a laugh to her voice.

"You have a lot of balls to say something like that to me." I smiled back at her.

"You have a lot of balls calling my boyfriend sugar tits." She grinned and nodded.

"Touché, my friend." Then she glanced over her shoulder at the tattoo artist. "That didn't ruin the tattoo did it?" The artist smiled and shook his head. "Okay, good." Then she looked back at me. "If it had, I would have to kill you." I smiled.

"This coming from she who swore to be my familiar." She grinned back.

"Even a slave can get mad at their master."

"You're just lucky I'm a kind master. I might just whip you for what you said to Jacob. And it would ruin your nice new tattoo." Then Aida started glaring.

"You wouldn't dare." I kept smiling at her teasingly.

"Don't call Jacob things like sugar tits anymore and I won't have to." She grinned back and shook her head.

"Fine, Nessie. I'll leave insulting Jacob to your guy's love life……whenever that love life finally comes around." I swatted her hand.

"We have a love life. It just doesn't involve sex."

"Then it's not a love life."

"Sure it is. We make out a lot that counts. And lately, Jacob's been asking me for a lot of back rubs and such. That counts too." Aida gave me a weird look. "What?"

"You give him back rubs?" I nodded.

"Sure. What's wrong with that?" Aida shrugged.

"Nothing, never mind."

"No. What's so bad about it?" Aida sighed.

"It's just so……archaic." I rose an eyebrow at her.

"My, my, Aida. Where did we learn that word?" She gave me a snide smile and stuck her tongue out at me.

"You're not the only one who knows big words. I've just never heard of people doing that without expecting over a hundred dollars for it." I shrugged.

"Why pay when he can get it from me for free?" She looked at me a moment before shrugging.

"Whatever works for you two." Then she smiled, but I stopped her.

"And I don't want another word from you. Nothing you're about to suggest is anything I haven't thought of myself and plan on doing soon." She only smiled and let me change the subject to something else.

The tattoo took an excruciating nine hours to do. The whole time, Aida didn't even squint her eyes from pain. Eventually, I figured I might as well ask. I could tell she'd have a smart remark for it.

"So the pain from the tattoo is welcomed, right?" She grinned.

"The pain from the needle feels so good." I gave her a weird look. "It's as good as being naked in the snow feeling the piercing pain from the cold on your bare skin." As she kept talking, her voice started to become frightening and to stop her from going on, I grabbed her lips with my fingers.

"I get it. Stop talking." She only smiled through my fingers and stayed quiet after that.

When her tattoo was finally done, it was eleven thirty and I was about ready to fall asleep from sitting in a chair talking for so long. Thankfully, she loved the final result of the tattoo. I had to admit that I liked it too. The two girls, the demon and angel, were facing to the side towards you and they were holding each other's hands while the hands facing you were behind their backs, the angel holding the pitchfork and the demon holding the shining hallo to represent their constant fighting, but sisterly affection. And they were both wearing mini dresses, the demon's dress being black and the angel's dress being a light baby blue. The angel had black hair with pale skin, and the demon had black hair with Aida's usual colorful highlights under all that black and her skin was a menacing scarlet red.

"That looks great Gary." Aida said after looking at her tattoo for five whole minutes just admiring it. Then the artist covered the tattoo so it could heal and gave her a baggy t-shirt so she wouldn't have to worry about her tight fitting shirt hurting the tattoo.

She'd told her parents that she was with Coralline for the weekend, which Coralline agreed to confirm, so I dropped her off at her boyfriend's house after we left Pores of Colors. Her boyfriend was home at the time, so he was waiting for her at the door of the apartment building. Aida and I waved goodbye to each other before she got out of my car and ran over to Zeplane and they started kissing and walking into the apartment and up the stairs. I ended up going to Jacob's house from Port Angeles. I knew he wasn't home, but I wanted to be at his house. I had the key, so I let myself in and went to his room. I took a shower and used the soaps I had in his shower that I placed in there.

When I was done, I toweled off and went to my room and got dressed before going back to his room and going to bed. Jacob wouldn't be home until six in the morning or so. And I know he won't mind seeing me when he got home. I fell asleep that night and didn't wake up until I felt something on my neck. It took a moment for me to be awake enough to realize it was Jacob kissing my neck. I smiled and started turning around so I was on my back, all the while, Jacob kept kissing my neck as I moved. When I was on my back, Jacob rested his weight on me and I welcomed him, threading my fingers through his hair. Then he got to my ear and started sucking and trailing his tongue along my ear, making me shudder. Then he started kissing along my jaw and my lips and licked my lips so I would open for him.

When I opened my mouth, his tongue trailed all along my mouth and made me giggle when he licked the roof of my mouth. He smiled through the kiss and never let up. I tried lifting my legs up to cradle him, but I was stuck under his weight and the sheets of the bed. But I still made an effort and I knew Jacob enjoyed all the movement. The more I moved, the more pressure he applied so that it was harder to move. We both smiled through the kiss and I took the opportunity to suck on his tongue for a moment. Then Jacob started sucking on my top lip. I moaned when he did that and I started running my hands down his back. He started groaning then and it made me smile. I started applying pressure in certain spots on his back and got the same reaction from him. Then he started kissing along my jaw and down my neck again and sucked on my skin when he reached between my neck and shoulder. The action made me whine in delight and Jacob smiled when he heard it.

"Morning, Nessie." I smiled and brought my fingers back into his hair.

"Morning, Jacob." I glanced over at the clock and was surprised to see it was one in the afternoon. "Did we really sleep in to one?" Jacob smiled and kissed my neck again.

"Yeah. I was exhausted when I got home and I was sure you were tired too. How long did Aida's tattoo take?"

"Nine hours." Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck again.

"And you both sat there without moving the whole time?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I must say, I've never sat still for that long." Jacob smiled.

"So how did it turn out?"

"It was great. It covered her whole back and it was a semi-pinup tattoo with a demon and an angel representing her and Coralline." Jacob chuckled.

"Is it safe to assume Aida's the demon?" I gave Jacob a halfhearted glare, then smiled fully again.

"Yep. It had red skin and black hair with her peek a boo highlights and everything. And the angel had black hair with pale skin. It looked so much like her and Coralline. It was fantastic." Jacob kissed my shoulder again.

"I'm glad you had a good time…….You didn't get one right?" I laughed and kissed Jacob's forehead.

"No, I didn't get one. I just sat there and talked to Aida while she got her tattoo. But guess what Aida told me." Jacob's face became quizzical.

"What?" I breathed a moment before talking.

"Mrs. Stanley's pregnant. And it's Mr. Mathew's baby." Jacob's eyes widened.

"No." I nodded.

"Yes. Make daddy stay in the same room with them for a few minutes. He'll tell you the same thing."

"Wow. That sucks. What are they going to do?" I sighed.

"Well, luckily for Mrs. Stanley, her husband thinks it's his, so she'll raise him as such and no one will be the wiser. Except, of course, Mrs. Stanley, Mr. Newton, Aida's parents, Aida and her sister, you, me, and inevitably daddy and the rest of my family." Jacob nodded awkwardly.

"Why would Mr. Newton know?"

"Because he's sleeping with Aida's mom." Jacob's eyes widened awkwardly and he nodded his head again the same way.

"I see. And Forks doesn't know about all this?" I shook my head.

"No clue."

"How can they not know about this? There's 3000 people." I smiled a little.

"Because they're discrete. Besides, Mrs. Stanley would never want to lose her prestige as the reliable town gossip." Jacob laughed without humor.

"Jessica had to inherit it from someone. And living in California certainly didn't help." I giggled and nodded.

"Definitely not."

"Did Jessica keep her last name?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Because, if they make their child's official last name Stanley Newton, I'll have lost all faith in them." I giggled.

"What's wrong with doing that? It's progressive." Jacob shrugged.

"I just think it's dumb. Any man that wants a son want that son to carry on his name. Adding the wife's last name just ruins that for the man." Then Jacob shrugged. "That's my opinion anyway." I smiled and decided to tease him.

"So if I said I wanted our son to be Kevin Edward Cullen Black, you wouldn't agree?" Jacob smiled frankly.

"Yeah. Unless of course his legal name was Kevin Edward and Cullen was his middle name and Black was his last name. That I wouldn't mind." I smiled.

"Then we'll do that." Jacob smiled and we kissed.

"I can agree to that. As long as his legal last name isn't Cullen Black." I giggled.

"It won't. Cullen will just be his middle name." Jacob smiled at me and we kissed again.

"So you still want our son's name to be Kevin?" I nodded.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jacob shrugged.

"No reason. I just know when Sam and Emily were expecting, she kept juggling names and such. I just thought you'd have other names in mind." I shrugged.

"I like the name Kyle too." Jacob grinned.

"I like Kyle Black." I smiled even wider when I heard him say the name.

"I do to." We smiled at each other and then kissed again. "I love you, Jacob."

"I love you too, Nessie." Jacob gave me another kiss, then a guilty smile.

"What?" Jacob grinned wider, but still looked guilty.

"I'm hungry." I burst out laughing. It took a moment for me to stop and Jacob waited patiently for me to stop laughing. "Why's that so funny?" I shook my head as I tried getting a hold of my laughter.

"It just is. What were you in the mood for?" Jacob smiled.

"A fish fry, actually. I could really use some catfish and trout." I smiled at him and rolled my eyes.

"You go buy it and I'll cook it." Jacob grinned.

"I'm on it." He kissed me and got out of bed to get dressed out of his sweats into his jeans and a t-shirt. When he was dressed, he came over to the bed and gave me a quick kiss. "I'll be back soon."

"Alright. I'll have the batter and stuff ready by the time you get back." Jacob smiled.

"I look forward to it." Then Jacob ran to get his keys and was off to the supermarket to get the fish. I forced myself out of bed and went to the kitchen to get started on everything.

Jacob ended up taking a lot longer than I thought he would. I had everything ready after ten minutes and put it in the fridge when an hour had passed and he still wasn't home. At first I was understanding and figured there was a long line. When two hours went by and he wasn't home, I got annoyed. But when it was four hours and he wasn't home, I started to worry. I called his phone at the four hour mark and he didn't end up answering me. That worried me immensely. I tried calling him a few times and remained without results. I called momma to tell her I was worried. But in a very cavalier, unconcerned voice, she told me that he was okay and just running errands. Then I got mad because momma knew more about it than me. When it was five and a half hours, I finally heard Jacob coming up the stairs and into the house with the grocery bags and nothing else. I stood up from the couch and tried not to sound mad at him when I talked.

"What took you so long?" Jacob smiled at me innocently.

"Sorry, Nessie. The line at the store was really long." I laughed without humor.

"Five hours long?" Jacob kept looking innocent.

"No, but it was long. And I needed to do something important before I came back. I was going to wait until I was at work on Monday, but I figured I'd get it done while I was there." I gave him a surprised look.

"Why were you in Seattle? Why didn't you just go to Port Angeles?" Jacob shrugged.

"Because there's a fish market in Seattle that I know has really good fresh fish and I wanted to get something that I knew would be really good." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I see. What was the other thing you need to do that took up so much time." Jacob took a moment to answer me, though he wasn't still. He was occupying himself by taking out the stuff from the back and unwrapping the fish. When he did answer, his voice was calm and natural.

"I needed to find something for the shop. Some stuff for a new engine to a person's car. I dropped it all off before I came home."

"Oh." Jacob kept smiling at me, and I noticed something odd. His smile was his silly smile. The smile that he gave me when he was thinking about me or something regarding me. "What are you so happy about?" Jacob grinned a little wider, walked around to me, and took me in his arms to kiss me.

"I just love you is all." I gave Jacob a strange, suspicious smile, and he kept smiling back at me with that silly grin.

"You're up to something." Jacob chuckled and kissed me again.

"Can't I tell you I love you and not be up to something?" We looked at each other a moment before I gave up and sighed.

"No, I guess not." We smiled at each other, then he started kissing me again. The kiss lasted longer this time. And it was sweet and filled with love. After a moment, our lips parted and I looked at him in a daze. "I guess I'll get started on those fish. You're probably even more hungry after such a long day." Jacob grinned from ear to ear and nodded before kissing the tip of my nose.

"Famished. I was looking forward to it all day." I smiled back.

"I bet you were." Then Jacob and I laughed together gently as he lifted me into his arms and carried me to the kitchen and placed me back down in front of the counter where all the fish was unwrapped and ready to be cleaned. Cleaning a fish wasn't hand. What I didn't know how to do was how to clean and section a whole fish, head, tail and all. "You do know I expect you to help me clean those fish right?" Jacob chuckled and placed me on my feet and kissed my neck before talking again.

"Sure, honey, I'll help. I'll butcher the fish and you can do the rest." I smiled and looked over my shoulder to kiss him.

"Such a gentleman." Jacob grinned and started kissing me again. I wanted to ask him what had made him suddenly so affectionate and attentive lately, but I figured why mess with a good thing. We cooked together and Jacob enjoyed the fish and it seemed to cook all the better since it was a fresh catch.

I spent the night at Jacob's house again, but momma was at the apartment ready to pick me up at nine. I was shocked that she hadn't come to yell at me for not waking up for school. But luckily for me, momma already called the school and told them I would be late. Momma and I drove all the way to Seattle to see the gynecologist. Carlisle recommended her, saying that she was good at her job and was often considered a very nice doctor by most of her patients. And the bonus was that she was a woman. The idea of seeing a male gynecologist just seemed strange. I was sure that male gynecologists were just as good, if not better on occasion, as female gynecologists, but the idea of a man seeing all that stuff when Jacob hadn't seen it first just seemed weird. So I was thrilled that the doctor Carlisle knew and recommended was a woman.

Momma and I waited in the waiting room for a half hour before the gynecologist finally got to us. Momma used that time to take me to a large bathroom stale to look me over to make perfectly sure that I really hadn't gotten any tattoos on Saturday. Momma was relieved to see that I hadn't. After getting into the room, it was another ten minutes before the doctor herself finally came in. I liked her off the bat. She was really nice and had a nice, soothing voice that I could easily get used to. Since the nurse had told me to strip, I was in the gown and Dr. Halleys used the first few minutes of our appointment to give me a quick breast exam and ask me a few intimate questions with regards to sexual activity and such. Once that was done, she got me into the stirrups and started giving me a Pap smear. It was a fairly unpleasant procedure, but it wasn't her fault. She was nice enough to make the test as comfortable as was possible. When she was done, momma and I waited a while for the results and were happy, though not surprised, when she came back and let me know that I definitely didn't have any cervical cancer or anything of that nature. Then we finally got to the part of the appointment that momma had been wanting to get to the whole time.

"So, Nessie. Your mother tells me that you're thinking about going on the pill." I nodded. In truth, momma wanted me on the pill, but I figured that was an unneeded minor detail.

"Yeah." She smiled and started writing more things down on her chart.

"And you don't have any PMDD symptoms that the pill would help you with. Are you anticipating being sexually active any time soon?" I shrugged.

"I don't think so."

"But you have a boyfriend and this time, am I right?" I nodded. Then momma spoke.

"I just want her to get on it so that she can be prepared. And she'll be going off to college soon and I want her to be safe." I gave momma a weird look. Seriously, what did she think I would be doing? Dr. Halleys nodded as she wrote.

"Is the relationship you have with your boyfriend serious?" I nodded.

"Yeah, it is." Then momma spoke again.

"And we know they're getting married, but we aren't sure when." Then Dr. Halleys nodded in understanding.

"And you don't want to worry about her getting pregnant too soon if they get married while she's in college." Momma nodded.

"Yeah." Once she was done writing, she looked at me with her kind doctor face.

"Well, Nessie, for you, I would recommend Yaz. And since you don't smoke and are under thirty, blood clotting and heart attack are highly unlikely. And your mother tells me that heart problems aren't common in your family, so that will lesson your chances of blood clotting all the more. You may experience some tenderness in the breasts and weight gain and dizziness, but if you do, it'll pass. And as I'm sure you know, the pill won't protect against STDs, so keep that in mind if you end up becoming sexually active." Momma looked at me then.

"Sound good, Nessie?" I shrugged and looked back at the doctor.

"Sounds fine to me." They both smiled.

"Alright, then. I'll write up a prescription for you and give it to you at the front desk."

"Thanks Dr. Halleys." She smiled at momma.

"My pleasure, Mrs. Cullen. I'll meet you both at the front desk."

Momma and I got the prescription once I was dressed and got back to the front desk and got it right after we got back to Forks from Seattle. Then she dropped me off at school where I didn't get to class until it was fifth period. Aida, Madison, and the others were all at the lunch table and were thrilled when they saw me. Madison was the first one to ask me where I was. I only told her I was at the doctor's office and nothing more. The last thing I wanted was for Candy to blab to everyone that I was now on the pill and turn it into something it wasn't. I did tell Aida in gym, though.

"Yaz, huh? I hear that's good."

"What are you on?" Aida shook her head.

"I'm not on the pill. I prefer to just use condoms. Fewer side effects." I smiled.

"I suppose that's true."

"I'll admit that going without feels better, but hey, it serves its purpose. And Trojans are pretty damn effective." I laughed a little.

"I thought you used the free pie condoms from the nurse's office." She shrugged.

"Sometimes. But only when Zeplane needs money for bills and can't afford to buy condoms that week." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That week? How often do you two do this?" Aida shrugged and answered me in a natural voice.

"It depends. Some weeks more often than others, but for the most part we're pretty active." I smiled a little to myself when I realized something. Aida looked at me and gave me a weird look. "What?"

"You know what I've noticed?" She shook her head.

"No. What?"

"Ever since you and Zeplane have been going out, you seem……happy." She smiled and didn't even try to hide it.

"Is it that obvious?" I nodded.

"Yeah. You aren't nearly as surely as you used to be. You're still a bitch to Madison and Candy, but for the most part, you've become a tad more mild. I like it."

"Me too."

"So how long have you two been going out now?"

"Two years this Halloween."

"Do your parents know about him?" She shook her head.

"They know I'm seeing someone, but that's about it. If they knew I was dating a guy that just turned twenty two, they'd kill me. I'm technically still a minor, so yeah." I nodded.

"You think that's bad. Try being in love with a man that's eighteen years older than you." She grinned.

"Yeah, you're right. Five years age difference isn't that much compared to you." I shook my head.

"Not at all."

"And me and Zeplane are actually having sex, so that's a bonus I have too." I hit her with my shirt.

"Shut up, okay. I'm on the pill now, so maybe Jacob will let up and…..you know." Aida grinned wider.

"I'm sure he will, Nessie. In fact, I'm positive." I gave her another weird look.

"Okay. I know I asked you this already, but what do you know that I don't?" Aida only smiled.

"You'll learn in due time, Nessie. In due time." As Aida walked away, I followed her about to demand more information, but Madison grabbed onto my arm and walked with me to the gym and started talking about what had been the subject earlier today at lunch.

I was certain that there was something everyone else knew that I didn't and even more certain that they were never planning on telling me what that was. It was infuriating. In gym, someone noticed Aida's new tattoo and complimented it, then were sworn to never speak of it again. He reluctantly agreed and the subject never came up again. I saw it in the gym and was thrilled with how well her tattoo had come out and told her so. Zeplane had evidently really liked it too. Daddy didn't say anything about my first time at the gynecologist when I got home. But did happen was that I saw the look of denial on his face and Emmett was looking at Valerie with a look at clearly said he was so happy that he wasn't the one going through it. Though daddy was sure to remind him that day was coming, to which Emmett got angry and challenged daddy to a fight outside, all the while saying that his baby girl would stay a baby forever if he had anything to say about it. I only laughed and Rosalie just rolled her eyes, then had a moment of sadness at how quickly her babies were growing. Valerie ignored that little conversation and kept playing clue with Ryan.

At the end of the day, I went back to the cottage and got ready for bed. Before going to sleep, I texted I love you to Jacob, not expecting a response until morning. He didn't have his phone with him while he was on patrol, so he wouldn't see it until he got back. I didn't really believe Jacob when he'd told me that he'd been gone so long because of something work related. Normally, Jacob would save that sort of stuff for when he was actually working. He hated wasting time with that sort of stuff when I was involved. And I knew that it had nothing to do with another woman or anything of that nature. I would have smelled it if it were. So I was at a loose for what he could possibly be doing. And momma was obviously in on it, making it all the more obvious that it had nothing to do with another woman. It was even more frustrating that Aida seemed to know about it too. Aida was the last person that Jacob would ever talk to about me unless I was upset and he wanted help. And there wasn't anything I was upset about that would warrant the need to talk to her.

I tried thinking about everything that had been going on that was strange. I thought it was weird that momma suddenly wanted me on the pill and even weirder that she said it was because she wanted me to be prepared for when I went off to college. She couldn't honestly think that I would be so stupid as to get involved in something that would get me pregnant. And the pill doesn't cover STDs that I would worry about if that were the case. And Jacob's odd, though very pleasant, showing of affection. He'd always hugged and kissed me, but lately, he seemed to always be touching me and never wanting to let me go. Once again, I wasn't complaining, but I did find it to be out of the ordinary.

I ended up falling asleep thinking about it. The thought crossed my mind for a mere instant that maybe Jacob was planning to ask me to marry him, but I painfully dismissed the thought. Even if he were proposing, that didn't mean we'd be getting married right away, and hence no need for me to be on the pill. Jacob had plainly stated that we weren't getting married until after I was out of college, so the thought went right out the window. The more I thought about it, the more everything I thought of didn't seem right. I finally fell asleep with a mind numbing headache. And I woke up the next morning to that same headache and the irritating sound of my alarm.


	16. Moon River

**Moon River**

It didn't take long before all of Forks learned that Mrs. Stanley was pregnant and start planning a baby shower for it. She was due the 20th of June which would normally mean her baby shower would be either March or April. But she was never one to prolong a party and had every intention of her baby shower being in January. I wouldn't pretend it made sense to me to have it so soon, but as long as it's what made her happy. I didn't start complaining until Aida told me she and her she and her mom were going and that I was to go to so she wouldn't be surrounded by so many baby obsessed hags as she'd so demurely put it. People were surprised that Mrs. Stanley was pregnant, but happy for her none the less. Especially since they thought the baby was her husband's. Jessica, to momma's surprise, was eager to invite her friends to the baby shower too. Momma received an invitation a few days before Thanksgiving that said she and guest were invited, which meant I was definitely going, even though I didn't want to.

"Why would she have the shower so early on? She's due in the summer, isn't she?" Jacob asked me while I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth.

"I don't know, Jacob. All I know is that momma was invited and has no intention of going and I'm only going because Aida begged me."

"Why not ask Zeplane?"

"Because he's working. Which reminds me, Jacob, be sure to wear something nice for the shower." Jacob opened the bathroom door and gave me a look of annoyed confusion.

"What?" I finished brushing and spit out the tooth paste and washed my mouth out with water before talking.

"I want you to go with me, if not for just a few minutes. At least come and congratulate her."

"The woman doesn't even know me."

"Doesn't matter. A woman like Mrs. Stanley loves getting attention, regardless of who she gets it from. Why do you think she's sleeping with Aida's dad and still evidently sleeping with her husband? I don't think she's unhappy in her marriage as much as she just loves attention from anyone she can get it from."

"So you're saying it didn't have to be Mr. Mathews because she would've done it with anyone?" I shrugged.

"I don't think she'd do it with just anyone, but yeah, that's pretty much it." Jacob sighed.

"Nessie, I don't like the idea of instigating behavior like that."

"You're going, Jacob, and that's that."

"You know, Nessie, maybe I can't go. Maybe I have work that day."

"What work? It's on a Saturday. You don't work on Saturdays."

"Well, maybe that week I will."

"Stop arguing with me, Jacob. You're going." Jacob looked at me a moment before he sighed and rested his head against the door frame. I walked to him and kissed him. "Thank you, Jacob." He smiled.

"You're lucky I love you so much."

"You're lucky I love you so much." Jacob chuckled and kissed me again. Then I went to my room and got dressed for school. When I was dressed, Jacob walked with me to the house so I could get my car and drive to school. "Aren't you late for work, Jacob?" Jacob shrugged.

"The boss doesn't care. Besides, I'm usually always on time anyway." I laughed under my breath and shook my head.

"If you say so, Jacob. If you say so." Jacob walked with me to the garage and gave me a quick kiss before I got in my car and drove away. I got to school a few minutes before the bell rang and got to my first period class in time for class to start.

Later that day at lunch, I found out that Aida and I weren't the only ones who would be at the baby shower in January. Evidently, Candy's and Meagan's moms were friends with Mrs. Stanley, same thing with Mackenzie's and Madison's, so they were all going to the shower with their moms too. When Aida knew that, she made it all the more clear that I was going to that shower to keep her company. It would appear that I was the only one who was going without my mom. Jacob was also going to be the only man there, but I didn't care. I wanted him there since momma had no intention of going. When I'd asked her why she wasn't going, she told me the same thing as Jacob. She had no intention of rewarding a woman's misconduct by going to a party that adds attention to her mistakes. That, and she and Jessica were never really friends. Jessica was friends with her when it was convenient or when she wanted to be. So it didn't make much sense for her to go to her mom's baby shower. I wasn't about to argue with her about it.

"By the way, Nessie. Who are you going to homecoming with?" I looked at Madison a moment, then shrugged.

"Probably no one. The only reason I'm going is because I'm graduating this year. And there's really no one I want to go with."

"You could go with me." I looked up at Matt who spoke, and sighed.

"That's really nice of you Matt, but really, you don't have to do that." He shook his head and took my hand in his.

"No, I want to. Really." Madison started clapping her hands.

"Oh Nessie, that's great. You can share a limo with us." I gave Madison a weird look.

"What do we need a limo for? We're only going to be in the school gym." Madison shrugged.

"Because we're going as a group this year. Same thing with Prom, which you're going to, right?" I sighed.

"Yes Madison. Just because this is my graduating year." Madison smiled and clapped her hands.

"Hurray! It'll be loads of fun, Nessie, you just watch. And you and Matt will make such a cute couple at homecoming." Matt smiled a silly smile and my smile was indifferent. The only reason I would ever go with Matt was because I couldn't go with Jacob, plain and simple. I might try to get him to go to prom with me. I wouldn't care in the least what anyone thought. Once Madison said that, Candy started her own babbling.

"Alright, well that means we need to go shopping." She looked at me. "So let's go today after school. I have all my stuff that I need and we can stop by our houses if anyone needs anything from home and Nessie has her car." Madison smiled wider.

"That's a wonderful idea! We'll need to stop by my house so I can get money, but yeah, that sounds awesome." Then Candy gave me a critical after glancing at Aida.

"And she can't come." Aida looked up at Candy, then at me. I kept looking at Candy.

"Well, maybe I want Aida to come." Candy shook her head.

"No way. We aren't taking the Grinch with us to go dress shopping." I shrugged.

"Well, you guys can just drive yourselves then." That shut Candy up. Aside from Aida, I was the only member of the group that had a car. Meagan grinned at the site of me putting Candy in her place, but never said a word. Finally, Candy groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Fine! She can come. But I don't want her ruining this because of her emo tantrums." Aida's eyes widened and she reached across the table and smacked Candy across the face. I tried not to laugh and Candy just stared at Aida shocked and dumbfounded. "What was that for?!" When Aida responded, her voice was cold and harsh.

"Dude, don't call me a fucking emo." Candy looked at Aida with a glare while rubbing the part of her cheek that Aida had slapped, but didn't say anymore on the matter.

Thankfully, that was the last of the argument. Despite Candy's bitching, Aida agreed to go dress shopping with us because I wanted her to and I mentioned that this was her paying me back for making me go to that damn baby shower. When I got the chance before gym, I called daddy and let him know what I was doing after school. He just told me there was a lot of construction going on in Seattle and to be careful. Once I'd hung up the phone with daddy, I got dressed really quickly for gym and went out of the locker room to catch up with Aida. She was waiting for me, but coach clapped sent a teacher in to ask Aida to go to the gym so he could talk to her. When I got out to the gym, Coach Clapp was still talking to Aida, so I made my way to my team's part of the gym so I was ready to start basketball. As it turns out, Matt was on the team we were playing against today, so when he saw me, he ran right to me with a grin on his face.

"So where are you girls going for your dresses?" I shrugged.

"Port Angeles. That's where we always go."

"That's cool. I can't wait to see your dress. What kind of corsage should I get you?" I couldn't help but laugh to myself under my breath and shake my head gently.

"Matt, it's homecoming, not prom. You get me a corsage for prom." He grinned a little and blushed.

"Yeah, you're right. Silly me. But what do you want me to get you for prom?" I kept my expression pretty much the same, but I was at a loss for what to say to him. I got the feeling that I was giving him the wrong impression and that wasn't fair to him.

"Really, Matt, it's okay. I'll probably go to prom by myself." He shook his head.

"No, you shouldn't go to prom by yourself. Why do that when someone's happy to take you?" Eventually, after looking into his hopeful eyes for a moment, I sighed.

"We'll see, okay? We'll see what happens through the rest of the year and then I'll give you an answer okay." He smiled and nodded.

"Definitely. It's a long way away anyway. No point in worrying about it now." I nodded.

"Exactly."

After gym was finally done, Aida and I were changed and waiting at the locker room entrance for Madison, Candy, and Meagan to get done. While we were waiting, I asked Aida what Coach Clapp was talking to her about. Evidently, he was yelling at her about a shirt she'd worn on Friday, that being a red shirt that was shredded in the back so it was technically backless. So it would seem she would be going to detention after school tomorrow. Why they wouldn't send her to the principal's office for something like that was beyond me. But evidently, she'd gone earlier today and had walked out of the office before the principal was through with her, hence the involvement of coach Clapp.

"Only you Aida. Only you." I said with an amused smile on my face. She smiled too.

"Damn straight only me. You think any other of these bitches could get away with that shit? I don't think so." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"You didn't get away with it, though. You have detention tomorrow."

"Details, Nessie. Minor details." I laughed and shook my head at her.

"True, Aida."

Once everyone was dressed, they met us at the locker room entrance and then we walked to my car and drove to Madison's house. Once she had everything she needed from her house, we went to the expressway and were on our way to Port Angeles. As daddy had warned, most of the main streets in Port Angeles were currently under construction, so it was a pain to drive around and it took a lot longer to get to the dress store than what it normally would have. I was relieved that we at least got a really good parking spot when we finally got there.

The dress selection wasn't as big as it would be if they'd gone to Seattle, but the selection was there. Candy and Meagan wandered to a certain section of the store that had the types of dresses that they liked and Madison wandered around the store with me and Aida. I immediately went for anything that was red or purple. Aida went for red and black and Madison chose a lot of pink. Once we all had dresses that we liked, we all found dressing rooms and tried on our dresses. Once I had on the first dress, I looked at it by myself first, then came out when Aida did to see what she thought. I knew I could rely on Aida to tell me what she actually thought of the dress. Aida ended up going with a black cocktail like dress that I never imagined that she would like and a silver pair of heels to go with the little fake diamond embellishment at the bust. I chose a simple silk red dress with spaghetti straps that would allow me to wear one of my more extravagant shoes.

"I can't believe I like this dress. And my tattoo makes it all that much hotter."

"What are you going to wear over the dress while you're home? Your parents still don't know about the tattoo right?" Aida nodded.

"I'll just wear a rain coat until I get to the car. They'll never see it." I shrugged.

"Whatever works. You're bringing Zeplane to homecoming and prom, right?" Aida nodded at my question. Candy heard my question and looked at Aida.

"Who's Zeplane?"

"He's my boyfriend." Candy raised her brow in disbelief.

"You? A boyfriend? Who is he, the son of the devil?" Aida ignored the insult and answered with an uncharacteristically calm voice.

"No. He's a twenty two year old photographer. His apartment's only a few blocks away from here. And F.Y.I. little miss Snit, he's a photographer for a modeling agency and makes a shitload of money doing it." Madison went wide eyed. I did too. I never knew he worked for a modeling agency. I didn't even know he was a photographer. I thought he was one of those guys that worked multiple jobs and can barely afford his food, rent, and cigarettes.

"He's twenty two? And interested in a seventeen year old?" Aida nodded.

"Yep. He certainly is." Madison was surprised, but Candy didn't look convinced.

"He works at a modeling agency as a photographer you say?" Aida nodded.

"Yeah. The agency's down this street, to the left and you keep going until the end of that street, take a right, and it's right there." Candy nodded, still not convinced.

"Sounds great. I wonder if he would mind if we dropped in and said hi." Aida shrugged, not even flinching.

"I should call him first, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"No, no, no, don't call. Let's just show up and say hi." Aida knew what Candy was doing. She didn't believe Aida was telling the truth and she was looking for an opportunity to embarrass her. I was glad Aida was calling her bluff. Aida shrugged and smiled.

"I guess we could. But if we're interrupting something, I'm making him yell at you. And he's a mother fucker when he's mad." Candy grinned.

"Like two peas in a pod." Aida only grinned back and started walking down the street in the direction she'd advised. "Why can't we take Nessie's car?" Aida rolled her eyes as she looked back at Candy.

"Because, dumbass, taking Nessie's car with all this construction and jammed traffic would mean it would take at least a half hour to get there. If we walk, I guarantee you we'll get there in half that time." Then Aida started walking ahead again and Candy rolled her eyes and took out her phone to look at her text messages.

As Aida said it would, it took us half the time to get to the agency as it would if we'd taken my car. Once we got there, we went to the front desk of the agency where a very flamboyant man was sitting handling the desk. He looked like one of those gay men that every woman dreams of taking with her to go shopping. And even though he didn't know Aida, he was nice and attentive and was even sweet enough to assume she was there for a modeling gig.

"No. Hell no. I'm here to say hi to Zeplane." The guy smiled sweetly at the name.

"Aw yes, the hotness running the camera." Aida smiled.

"I'd know. I'm his girlfriend." Then the guy looked at her with a playful glare.

"Jealous." We all laughed a little. Aida grinned.

"You think that's heartbreaking." Aida came to me and pulled me with her to the front desk. When I was there with her, she reached for my wallet and opened it to show the guy a picture I had of me and Jacob. "Get a load of him." Right before my eyes, I could see the poor man's heart break.

"It's official. All the gorgeous men are straight." I shrugged.

"That's debatable." We all shared another laugh before he stood up and walked around the desk.

"You're so sweet." Then he looked at Aida again. "I'll go get him. He might be a while though. They're shooting some proofs to send to Sports Illustrated." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Whatever gets money." He laughed.

"Yeah. I suggested they do a nice Speedo shot, but of course, I was overruled." Aida shook her head.

"Shame."

"Right?" The guy left and went through a door that led to a room that was dark except for the lights aiming towards one scene. He was gone for a moment, and back with a grin. "He just wants to finish one shot and he'll be out."

"Alright."

Then Aida turned to face us and pointed at seats that were behind us, telling us to all take a seat. Madison snatched a seat next to me, making me also sit next to Candy who was writing away on her cell phone. I think it was her way of pretending that she suddenly didn't care and hence meant that she still wasn't wrong. We waited for a minute in the waiting room talking to the guy at the desk. He really was a joy to talk to. When Zeplane finally came out, Aida went to him and hugged him.

"What are you doing here, Aida?"

"We were shopping for dresses for homecoming and Candy wanted to meet you." Aida turned and pointed at Candy, who was still texting on her phone. "Who is still texting on her phone. Whatever. So how's shooting going?" Zeplane shrugged.

"Pretty good. I wish it'd gone by faster, but as long as we got the shot." Once Candy was done writing her text, she got up and walked over to Zeplane with a smile. He was taken by surprise when she was right next to him.

"So you're in the modeling business?" Zeplane nodded, but Aida spoke.

"He doesn't get you started in the modeling business, Candy. He only decides whether you stay or not." Candy sneered at Aida while Zeplane smiled in humor. To lighten the mood, I thought it best to change the subject.

"I never thought you would be interested in the fashion industry, Zeplane." He shook his head.

"I'm not, really. I started working here a year ago after I graduated college in the hopes of making a name for myself. Once I do that, I want to open my own photo gallery in Seattle."

"That sounds pretty awesome. What do you like to take pictures of?" He shrugged.

"Whatever I think looks the best. I really took a liking to taking pictures of graveyards thanks to Aida." I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sure. So you were still in college when we first met?" He nodded.

"Yeah. That's the reason I was working at Spirit Halloween."

"That would be a good reason." We all smiled and laughed a little.

We spent a few hours at the agency talking to Zeplane. Aida showed him the dress so he could admire it. We finally left the agency at around five and started walking back to the boutique where my car was still parked. The whole time while we were walking, Candy was texting someone on her phone and talking to Meagan at the same time, though I'm not sure Meagan was really listening. She was looking forward ignoring her for the most part. She did grab onto her shirt whenever she was about to walk into a busy street, though. We were walking for a good ten minutes now. I was looking forward and off to the side for the most part. So was Meagan as far as I knew and Candy was still looking primarily at her phone while still babbling on to Meagan. After a while, Aida tried to interrupt her.

"Candy."

"Not now, Aida. Anyway, Meagan."

"Candy." Aida said a little louder.

"Not now, Aida." Then she kept talking while still looking at her phone. Then Aida sighed heavily before talking.

"Candy!" Then Candy glared at Aida.

"What?!" Before Aida could respond, Candy was screaming while she fell forward into a large hole. We were all looking at her now with wide eyes except for Aida. And in a calm, empty voice, she responded.

"You're about to fall into a manhole."(*For the record, this really happened. Some sixteen year old girl in Missouri was walking and texting, wasn't paying attention, and fell down a manhole in front of her house. Look it up on Google. It's there.*)

"Candy? Are you okay?" Meagan said with half concern and half controlled laughter in her voice. Then men working at the construction site stopped what they were doing and started helping Candy out of the manhole and making sure she wasn't hurt. I tapped Aida's arm so she would look at me.

"Why didn't you stop her?" I was trying to sound angry. But in truth, the situation was too funny not to laugh. Aida held up her hands defensively.

"I tried, Nessie. The bitch wouldn't listen to me." I looked at Aida with an amused smile on my face before I shook my head at her with a contained laugh and finally sighed.

Luckily for Candy, she got away with just a sprained ankle and a scratch on her arm. I could tell Aida was disappointed, though. I think she was hoping for worse. Meagan went with Candy into the ambulance that came for her while Aida and I walked back to my car hoping to avoid any news people that might come. I asked Aida why news people would want a story like that, and in her own demure way, she told me they had nothing better to show on the news than some dumb bitch falling into a manhole while texting. Never mind what America was going to do about gay marriage and health care. The entire world had to know when Candy fell down the hole.

Once we got to my car, it took ten minutes to finally get onto the road and another thirty minutes to drive to the expressway so we could go home. Aida and I talked a little about what happened to Candy for a few minutes before I changed the subject to Ryan and Valerie and how Ryan brought home a water moccasin yesterday and asked Emmett and Rosalie if he could keep it as a pet. And, of course, telling Ryan that the water moccasin was poisonous wasn't enough to discourage him from wanting to keep it. It took four hours of telling Ryan he wasn't allowed in the house while he was handling that snake before he finally let it go. And Valerie, being the sweet twin sister that she is, stayed at the back door watching him while he was outside. Though she was teasing him the whole time. Aida got a laugh from that little story. I dropped her off at home and drove back to the house. When I parked my car in the garage and walked into the house, I was met by my dad, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"So let me get this straight. Your friend, Candy, fell down a manhole while she was texting?" I nodded. Then I heard Emmett start to laugh before he spoke over his laughter.

"It's better than the girl who got run over by a car while she was texting. The worst part of that story is that she was hit by the person that she was texting." Daddy held back a laugh.

"Shut up, Emmett. That's not funny."

"Like hell it isn't." Then Emmett looked at Jasper. "And you thought teenagers weren't that stupid." Then Emmett started laughing harder. "Be sure to tell Jacob this story tomorrow. I want to hear what he'll say about it." I nodded.

"Sure Emmett." Then I went to the kitchen to start my homework while Jasper and Emmett argued.

I finished my easier homework before getting started on my bio homework. Daddy asked if he could help me with my homework so he could get away from Jasper and Emmett arguing. With daddy's help, I ended up getting my homework done in half the time. Once I was done with my homework, daddy and I went to the piano and played together while we waited for momma, Esme, Rosalie, and Alice to get back. Ryan and Valerie were out in the yard playing with a garter snake they'd found. I always thought it was cute that those two were so outdoorsy. A lot more than me, at least. When momma and the others finally came home, momma came over to me and daddy and started playing with us. Rosalie brought Ryan and Valerie inside and ran them upstairs to give them baths. Consequently, playing with the garter snake got them really muddy. I can't imagine how that would make them get mud in their hair, but with those two, you never knew. Rosalie was mad that they were so dirty, and Emmett just thought that it was funny to see them covered head to toe in mud.

I went to bed late that night. Tomorrow was a Saturday anyway. Momma, daddy, and I walked back to the cottage together and I told momma all about what happened to Candy. When I told her, I didn't see any humor on her face, which didn't surprise me. This wasn't something momma would consider funny. Sad, maybe. But not funny. She only rolled her eyes and told me she hoped Candy'd learned her lesson. She also reminded me to never let something that stupid happen to me either. I promised I never would and kissed momma and daddy good night before walking into the cottage and going to the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. I went to bed shortly after that and didn't wake up until at least eleven. When I woke up, Jacob was in my bed with me, still sleeping facing the ceiling. I also realized I was laying on his chest now. I smiled and watched him sleep for just a little longer, not wanting to disturb him after staying up all night on patrol.

I ended up falling asleep again while listening to his heartbeat, and I woke up to strong arms hugging me tight and Jacob giving me a sweet kiss. The kiss was simple at first. But I deepened the kiss when I licked his bottom lip and started wandering my tongue around Jacob's mouth when he let me in. He did the same to me as I did to him. I ran my tongue along his teeth and he ran his tongue along the roof of my mouth, making me giggle through the kiss. When I giggled, he took his lips away and kissed along my jaw until he got to my ear, then sucked on my ear, teasing the diamond stud. Then he started kissing my neck until he reached my shoulder and sucked on my skin.

"How was patrol, Jacob?" He kept sucking on my skin while he answered me.

"Good. Nothing out of the ordinary. I missed you." I smiled and ran my fingers into his hair.

"I missed you too. I have a few things to tell you." Jacob smiled while still nuzzling into my neck and shoulder.

"Really?" I nodded and started showing Jacob yesterday. I felt him stiffen when Matt came up, so I showed him what happened to Candy, hoping to lighten his mood. He laughed when he saw that and finally spoke once I was done showing him my day. "She seriously fell into a manhole while texting?" I nodded. "That's sad."

"I know. It was hard to not laugh at her for it." Jacob shrugged.

"Why bother?" I laughed at Jacobs joke and he kissed my shoulder again before becoming serious and changing the subject. "More importantly, you're going to the homecoming dance with some kid named Matt?" I nodded in minor guilt.

"Yeah. He's the one that was with us at the drive-thru, remember?"

"I remember. That's why I'm not too keen on the idea of him taking you to the homecoming dance."

"I know. It's only for one night and I'll be back home early. I promise." Jacob kept looking at me with a serious look and didn't say anything for a moment. When he did speak, I could feel jealousy in his voice and I hated to admit I loved it.

"If that little bastard tries anything…." I shook my head.

"He won't do a thing. I know you don't trust him but you can trust me, okay Jacob. And you can always stay close to the school all protective like." I grinned silly and Jacob finally chuckled a little.

"I might just do that. I'll stay in the wooded area keeping an eye on you." I grinned wider.

"Just remember to wear pants. The last thing I want anyone to see is you naked." Jacob grinned.

"What's wrong with that?"

"You're mine to look at, that's what's wrong with it." Jacob grinned wider and kissed me sweetly.

"That's true." We smiled at each other before kissing again. We stayed like that for several minutes just kissing he asked if he could see my homecoming dress. I smiled and pushed him off me to go to my closet where my dress was hanging. "Are you still wearing that purple dress from the wedding to prom?" I nodded.

"Yeah. The last thing I need is another prom dress that I'll rarely ever wear." Jacob smiled in humor.

"That's a good way to look at it. And most of your classmates weren't there, so it's not like they'll notice."

"Exactly." I pulled the dress out of its bag and held it up for Jacob to see. He lifted himself into a sitting position off the edge of my bed and admired it. "What do you think?"

"It's lovely, Nessie. It suits you." I smiled wider.

"Really?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. Really." I smiled and hung up the dress before walking over to him, falling against him once I was close enough and wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my forehead against his.

"I wish I could just take you."

"Me too." Then Jacob's face became thoughtful for a moment, then he smiled wider. "How about I take you to prom?" I smiled.

"Really?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, really. I could just crash the prom and we can sneak in at least one dance." I smiled and nuzzled his nose with mine.

"Did I tell you I love you today?" Jacob grinned.

"Not today."

"Well that's unacceptable." Jacob grinned wider and played along with my joke.

"It sure is. But don't worry. I'm guilty of that too." I giggled.

"Shame on us both." We laughed together and smiled at each other for a moment before the laughing died down and Jacob kissed my nose.

"I love you, Renesmee." I smiled lovingly at him.

"I love you too, Jacob." When I said that, Jacob hugged me tighter and kissed along my neck again. My fingers brushed through his hair and rested my cheek on the top of his head while he sucked and kissed my neck.

Both Jacob's hands ran from my back until his hands reached my butt. Then he pulled me even closer to him and fell backwards onto my bed, pulling me with him. When his back hit my bed, I lifted my face and forced Jacob's lips to mine in another kiss. He gladly returned the kiss and turned us over so I was on my back with him above me. He licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance, and I let him in eagerly. I grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him up with me as I scooted further up my bed to get more comfortable. Jacob followed me and immediately continued the kiss once he was close to me again. We sucked on each other's lips for a moment before our tongues explored each other's mouths again.

Jacob and I spent the afternoon like that for a good hour just kissing each other. After a few hours, daddy and momma came to the cottage and daddy yelled at us from the living room, telling us to 'come up for air'. Jacob and I laughed before separating and going back to the house to snatch the remote from Emmett and watch a movie. Thankfully, Emmett was occupied playing with Valerie and Ryan with Rosalie, and everyone else was off doing their own thing. Jacob looked through the channels for a movie that we would both like and stopped when I saw a channel that was showing Obsessed. I knew it wasn't Jacob's all time favorite, but he didn't mind watching it whenever I found it on. I liked the movie. I thought it was interesting. And I would admit that it spooked me out a little. Halfway through the movie, Jacob brought up homecoming again.

"So when is homecoming?" Jacob asked while his fingers ran through my hair.

"It's next Saturday. The homecoming game is the Friday afternoon that week."

"Isn't the homecoming game usually the same day as the dance?" I shrugged.

"It depends. Sometimes the school changes it."

"Whatever works for them. Will you need a ride?" I smiled at the hopefulness that Jacob had in his voice.

"Sadly no. Madison's mom is getting us a limo for the night." Jacob smiled.

"That sounds nice. A little unneeded, but nice."

"As long as it's a free limo ride, I don't mind. Though I wouldn't mind getting a ride from you, Jacob." Jacob chuckled and kissed my cheek.

"As much as I like that idea, you should probably share a ride with your date." I grinned.

"I'm impressed with you. I thought the idea of me sharing a ride with Matt would make you mad." Jacob kissed the top of my head.

"I don't like it. But I trust you not to let him do anything." I smiled a little wider and kissed his chin.

"How sweet of you, Jacob. How I love you so." Jacob chuckled and kissed my cheek.

"I love you too, Nessie. That's why I won't throw a fit over you going to homecoming with Matt. He's only a friend after all." I smiled.

"Of course he is." Jacob crushed me to him in a tight hug and I kissed his neck before we continued watching the movie.

The week before homecoming, Jacob and I didn't bring it up again. We went about our time together like we normally did. That Saturday, Alice did up my hair so that it was in a curly, loose bun that went nicely with the smoky eye and light pink gloss makeup and my red dress. Jacob had to go on patrol the night of homecoming, but he was sure to stay and see me off. And he was going to drop me off at Aida's house to wait for the limo to pick us up. When he stopped in front of Aida's house, I still had about twenty minutes before the time Madison said the limo would get to Aida's house. I was about to get out of the car after I kissed Jacob, but he held onto my hand tightly.

"Jacob?" Jacob smiled at me tenderly and pulled me closer to him until he kissed me. I thought the kiss would last longer than it did. Once our lips touched, he immediately started sucking on my bottom lip while I sucked on his top lip. We did that for a minute before he pulled away with that same smile on his face. I simply smiled back.

"You look beautiful." I grinned.

"You think so?" He nodded.

"You look beautiful in everything Nessie." Jacob grinned wider. "What time will you get back from the dance?"

"I plan on leaving the school at eleven. Daddy's picking me up, so it'll only take a few minutes to get back from there." As Jacob grinned and listened to me talk, I could swear his eyes were sparkling.

"Alright. Just making sure." Jacob reached over and kissed me on more time. "Have fun, Nessie. I love you." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"I love you too, Jacob. I'll see you tomorrow." Jacob smiled and I smiled back as I got out of the car and kept looking at him all the way to the door and didn't look away until the front door to Aida's house opened and Jacob didn't drive away until I was inside.

Aida and I waited at her house for the limo while playing a Wii racing game. Once the limo arrived, we went to the limo and rushed to get there. The driver picked a spot in the parking lot and told us he'd wait there until we were ready to go. Zeplane was outside the gym doors waiting for Aida and looked thrilled when he saw her. He looked a little stoned, though I wasn't surprised. I figured it was his way of coping with being around people he either wasn't used to or even didn't like. Matt had been sitting next to me the whole rid to the school and was still staying really close to me after we were in the gym. Madison had her time to babble to me and say her fill before she went to her date and occupied her time with them. Aida stayed with Zeplane all night. They weren't even dancing. They were just standing against a wall in the gym talking. Candy and all the others were occupied with their dates and Candy had been spending all week trying to get people to stop talking about her little mishap from last week to no avail. That meant that Matt and I were stuck actually talking to each other. It had been awkward since the beginning of the night. He was trying to start a conversation and I wasn't doing much to contribute to it. Early on in the dance, a slow song came on and Matt looked at me with a smile.

"Let's dance. I like this song." I looked at him a moment before smiling politely.

"Sure."

Matt smiled eagerly and took my hand and led me to the dance floor with all the other dancers. The song playing was an odd remake of the classic Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. I much preferred the older versions or the version sang by the Jersey Boys. Any version sang by a bad rapper or a bad girl band sounded odd to me. I guess that's what happens when you're surrounded by people that insist the classics are better. Some remakes were good, true, but you could never go wrong with the classics.

Once we got on the dance floor, I rested my hands on his shoulders and his hands rested on my waist. Normal stance to take while dancing. For the first few seconds of the song, we didn't talk as we danced. But eventually, Matt got tired of the silence and tried to make conversation again.

"I can't believe you're really graduating this year." I smiled nicely.

"Yeah, I know. It's a surprise."

"What college are you going to go to?" I shrugged.

"I haven't thought about it yet. Daddy really wants me to go to Yale, but seeing as I still don't know what I want to major in, I don't know if Yale is the best choice anyway."

"Yale? Wow. I think I'll be lucky to get into Seattle University."

"Just do your best. That's better than not trying at all."

"Yeah, that's true." We were both silent again after that for a moment. I was looking off to the side. I wasn't sure where he was looking. I wasn't expecting him to keep talking. "Can I ask you something?" I looked back at his face.

"What?" He suddenly looked really nervous. He licked his lips several times in nervousness before he finally spoke.

"I was wondering if….well…if you would, you know,…..be my girlfriend." I didn't stop moving with him. I didn't want to draw attention. The last thing he would want is attention from everyone else. I sighed and looked away from him again, though.

"Look, Matt, don't get me wrong. You're really nice and sweet and any girl would be lucky to have you."

"But…?" I looked at him a little more before continuing.

"It's not that I don't like you. You're a nice guy. But……." He waited patiently with a sad look on his face for me to continue. I sighed heavily. The truth was the only thing that would get me out of this mess. "I'm already seeing someone."

"You are?" I nodded.

"Yes, I am. It's pretty serious."

"Who? Why didn't you bring him with you to homecoming?"

"Because he's turning twenty four this year." His eyes widened.

"Twenty four." I nodded.

"Yeah. I met him when I moved here from California and he was there for me and helped me get through my parent's death. We became close friends, then I eventually fell in love with him." I was impressed with myself for thinking of a plausible story so quickly.

"Your aunt and uncle are okay with you dating an older guy?" I nodded.

"Yeah, they're okay with it. We would have been together later anyway. Besides, Edward likes him. He thinks he's well rounded and has his priorities straight." Matt nodded his head awkwardly.

"Oh."

"Don't tell anyone about this, Matt. Jacob and I aren't really open about this. At least not right now. We're planning to wait until I finish college. Once I graduate, we're getting married." I said the last part with a silly grin. Jacob and I had spoken enough about getting married that we were practically engaged already. All that was left was the ring.

"Sure. I won't tell anyone." He stopped dancing moments ago. I let go of him and we started walking back to the punch bowl and leaning against the wall. "How long have you two been together?"

"Truly?" Matt was still a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah. Truly." I sighed and finally answered.

"It'll have been three years this New Years." His eyes widened again.

"You've been dating since freshman year?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"You were dating him when he was twenty one and you were fourteen?" I nodded.

"Yeah. But hey, once I'm over eighteen, our age difference won't mean a thing." He was still wide eyed.

"But isn't that illegal?"

"It's illegal if the parents/guardians don't approve and if we're having sex, neither of which apply." I wasn't sure why I was going into so much detail. I suppose I was desperate to get the subject cleared.

"I guess."

"Swear you won't tell anyone." Matt looked at me with that same sad face but also looked thoughtful.

"Yeah. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." We were silent again for a few moments. Then he spoke again.

"Do I know him?" I shook my head.

"I doubt it. He's from the Quileute reservation." He looked surprised again.

"You said his name was Jacob?" I nodded. "Do you mean Jacob Black? One of those really big guys?" I smiled a little in humor.

"He went through a big growth spurt. What can I say? And at least thirty pounds of him is muscle."

"I don't doubt that." Then he made a weird face again.

"I thought he liked your aunt Bella." I fought a sting of anger at that remark. I also fought the need to yell at him.

"Maybe at one point, but not anymore." He nodded his head in acknowledgement before looking back at the dance floor awkwardly again.

After that, all our conversations were awkward after that. I was all too thrilled when it was finally eleven. I practically ran outside and looked for daddy's Volvo and was ecstatic when I saw it. When I was outside, daddy pulled out of his parking space and drove over to me and opened the passenger's side door for me so I could get in. Daddy gave me a piece of his mind for talking to Matt about something I shouldn't, but he was relieved that he had no intention of telling anyone. He was far too embarrassed to tell anyone about it seeing as he'd spent so much time telling people how much he liked me.

Once we got home, daddy kissed the top of my head and momma came to the garage to give me a kiss and told me to go to bed. I told everyone good night and started walking back to the cottage. I walked back to the cottage at a slower pace than normal. I was tired and I wanted to make sure I didn't trip and fall into the mud. When I finally got to the cottage, I noticed something surprising. I could smell Jacob. It wasn't just a trace of his scent from an earlier visit. He was at the cottage. I followed the scent into my room and was surprised to see Jacob sitting on the edge of my bed wearing just his sweats. He was smiling at me when I opened the door to my room and stood up to walk over to me.

"I thought you had patrol tonight?" Jacob was still smiling and his eyes wondered down shyly.

"I do. There was something I wanted to do though." I closed my bedroom door and walked over to him.

"What's that?" Jacob looked back at me and kept smiling. Then he took both my hands in his and kissed them both before answering.

"I just wanted to get a chance to dance with you while you were wearing this dress." I giggled and closed the last of the distance between us while he lifted my hands up and rested them on his shoulders. Then his hands went to my waist.

"I didn't think you liked dancing." He smiled more.

"Normally, no. But this time I just couldn't resist." I smiled and felt myself get teary eyed. Then Jacob started moving his feet from side to side, pulling me with me. Seconds after we started, I kissed his chest and rested my head on his chest. Jacob wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up into his arms to his level.

"You have no idea how much I needed this. That night was awful."

"What did he do?" I giggled.

"He was boring." Jacob chuckled.

"How rude of him." We both kept smiling and my brought my head to my nook and rested it there, breathing him in like I'd done so many times before.

We were silent as Jacob moved. His heartbeat was all the music I needed. But after a few minutes, Jacob started humming. I didn't recognize the song at first. But after listening for a few minutes, I realized he was humming Moon River. I never knew he liked that song. As he hummed, he started kissing my cheek and neck lovingly while I kissed his neck. Then our lips finally met in a searing kiss and it was passionate from the beginning. Jacob poked his tongue through my lips and started exploring my mouth. Then he sucked on my tongue and squeezed me tighter to him. Jacob had stopped moving the moment our tongues met and my head was spinning. After a few minutes, Jacob started moving from foot to foot again to dance. I was surprised when I felt Jacob unzip my dress. I pulled away and looked at him wide eyed.

"You just unzipped my dress." Jacob laughed and kissed the tip of my nose.

"You wanted it off anyway didn't you so you could change in your pajamas?" I grinned and kissed his chin.

"I don't need any." Jacob smiled and kissed me.

"Ha ha, Nessie." I sighed.

"You know I'm on the pill now right?" Jacob shrugged.

"Bella told me. Why?"

"Why do you think?" I gave Jacob a challenging smile and Jacob stayed innocent.

"Soon, Nessie. I promise." Then Jacob placed me back down on my feet and gently pulled my dress down and laid it on my vanity chair, leaving me in my bra and panties. Then he took me back in his arms and carried me to my bed, laid me down next to him and kissed me.

"How soon?" Jacob grinned his silly grin and kissed me between my breasts.

"Soon." He didn't say anything else after that. We only cuddled close together and Jacob would nuzzle my cleavage and kiss me every now and then until we both fell asleep.

"I love you by the way, Jacob." He smiled and kissed my cleavage again.

"I love you too, Nessie. So much." We both fell asleep shortly after that. But I was sure to have Jacob cradled between my thighs beforehand. I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand just teasing each other, but I hoped that if we did wait until after college, that whatever I decided to do would take very long.


	17. Festive

**Festive**

Matt and I didn't talk much anymore after the homecoming dance. As he promised, he never told anyone about me and Jacob. He simply stopped hitting on me and trying to ask me out. Madison was the only one to ask about it. Matt simply told her that I wasn't interested and left it at that. I'd told Aida what happened, so she didn't look surprised at all. I think she was more than happy to be the one ridiculed in the group for going out with an older man. She did, however, point out that if anyone of them were having sex with a guy in his twenties, they would all think it was the coolest thing ever. No one said anything in response to that and went back to eating their lunch while Aida grinned with victory. When it was gym, Aida and I were at our lockers getting ready.

"By the way, Nessie, I've been meaning to ask you." I looked at Aida after my shirt was off and reached for my gym shirt.

"What?"

"Have you thought about what college you'll be going to?" I was quiet a moment before I answered her and shrugged.

"I never really thought about it. I don't think I even know what I want to major in." Aida laughed a little, which took me by surprise. "Why is that funny?" Aida shook her head.

"Sorry. I always assumed you of all people would know what you want to do in the future. Even I know what I want to do in life. And I'm the type of person that people naturally assume will just end up doing hard drugs and getting knocked up and left with my baby and ending up a hooker to feed my abuse child." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"So what is it you want to be?"

"A nurse." I looked at Aida wide eyed for a moment and followed after her when she started walking to the gym.

"A what?"

"A nurse."

"A nurse? You? I thought you hated people. Why would you want to help what you don't even like?" Aida shrugged.

"I like blood and looking at wounds and shit. Besides, it's a really secure job and hospitals always need nurses. I'll never be out of a job. And it pays really well." I shrugged.

"I guess. I just never thought of you as the type that would be a nurse."

"Not many people do. But yes, a nurse is what I want to be."

"Do you know where you'll be going?" She nodded.

"Peninsula College. I'm taking the nursing program there. I'll graduate in two years. And I can live with Zeplane while I'm going to school."

"Do your parents know about that part of the plan?" She shook her head.

"My sister goes to Peninsula College. They think I'm staying with her. Mom and dad are paying for her classes and that shabby apartment."

"How long has your sister been going there now?"

"Three years. This is her last year. She took a three year study in computer art."

"That sounds cool. What will she do with that?"

"She'll be getting a job in advertising. She'll be the person that makes the ads for companies and will sometimes help a company create a logo. It's a pretty cool job. If she's working for the right clients, she could get free designer shit." My eyes widened as we took our spots in the gym for bad mitten.

"Sounds like a cool job. Where will she be working? Does she know yet?" Aida nodded.

"LBD inc."

"What is it?"

"Laurel Black Design Inc. It's a really good place to work if you're a advertising designer or something of that nature. It's a company that helps other companies make a name for themselves in a word."

"Sounds perfect." Aida nodded.

"Perfect, but hard to get. She applied to that company every year since she started college hoping to get hired there. They finally hired her a few days ago and want her to start as soon as possible. She'll only be doing office work until she gets her degree, but it's better than getting rejected again."

"I bet."

"Have you at least given some thought to what you want to do?" I shrugged.

"I thought about being a doctor for a while."

"What changed that?"

"I read Carlisle's medical journals. I'd rather shave my head than read one of those again." Aida laughed a little.

"Nice. You have to do that sort of stuff with legal documents too. Law is its own language."

"Hence why I don't want to be a lawyer. Besides, I don't like the idea of defending a person when I know they're guilty."

" I know what you mean. I'm surprised your dad hasn't helped you think of something." I shook my head.

"He has. It's just nothing he's suggested is really something I'm interested in. I don't want to be a doctor or go into nursing of any kind, I really don't want to do anything involving law, me owning a restaurant would be kind of stupid if you ask me."

"Why?"

"Aida, I can't taste food like you do. Everything tastes bad to me. How would I know the food I'm sending out was good?" Aida shrugged.

"Sight and smell?"

"That only lets me know it's cooked and that it smells good. That doesn't always mean it's good. I cook for Jacob, that's it." Aida sighed.

"well, Nessie, you better think about it. There's only so long you can be undecided, even with your infinite wealth." I nodded.

"And the longer I'm in college, the longer I'll have to wait before Jacob and I get married." Aida was quiet then, which I found odd. She was never quiet. I kept looking at her, then she finally looked at me and shrugged.

"What?"

"Why are you so quiet suddenly?"

"No reason."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." I sighed and kept looking at her.

"What do you know that you aren't telling me?" Aida gave me a weird, questioning look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know something. What do you know?" Aida shrugged.

"I know that you're overreacting to nothing. Does that count for something?" I scowled at Aida and her sarcasm and she just smiled. Finally, I shook my head and sighed.

"Fine. Never mind." Aida smiled and we started the game with the opposing team we were set up with.

After gym class, I drove straight to Jacob's house. It was Friday, so if I spent the night, it wouldn't matter. And it was Thanksgiving on Monday, so I had Monday and Tuesday of next week off. Jacob was getting irritable as it got closer to Thanksgiving. I wasn't a fan of John either, but Jacob hated him a lot more than I did. I always stayed quiet while he vented about it and then cheer him up with a long kiss. I knew Jacob wouldn't be home yet. I usually took that time to clean up a little around the apartment and get some laundry done. Jacob certainly wasn't the dirtiest guy out there, but he always managed to have a mess somewhere, which usually resulted while I was at home. He'd told me more than once that he'd probably be knee deep in garbage and Chinese takeout if I wasn't there for him. I couldn't say I disagreed either. But either way, I was happy to help him.

Once the kitchen was clean and all the dishes were either put away or in the dishwasher, I went to Jacob's closet to get his dirty clothes. I put in the right amount of detergent and fabric softener and set it for the wash and walked around the house one last time to do a little last minute cleaning. When everything else was cleaned, I went to the living room and watched some TV while I waited for the laundry to get done. Jacob was home shortly before the clothes finished in the dryer. Jacob came in and saw me sitting on the couch watching TV. I looked over my shoulder towards the front door when I heard Jacob come in.

"Hey Jacob." Jacob looked surprised to see me, though he was still happy.

"Hey. I wasn't expecting you."

"I know. I just wanted to get some laundry done. Everything's in the dryer, so they should be done soon." Jacob suddenly looked nervous and nodded awkwardly.

"Sure. I'll put those away for you."

"That's okay, Jacob, I can do it." Jacob shook his head and persisted.

"No really. You clean around here, the least I can do is put away my clothes." I smiled and got up from the couch and walked over to him to hug him.

"You're so sweet, Jacob. You don't have to do that." Jacob hugged me back and kissed the top of my head.

"I will, though. And I'll do a good job doing it too." I giggled and shook my head.

"Alright Jacob." Then I kissed his chest through his shirt and looked up at him. "Is there a reason you don't want me to put away your clothes?" Jacob shook his head.

"It's not that I don't want you to. I just think I should pull my weight. I mean, you always do so much for me. I don't deserve it." I giggled and nuzzled his chest.

"Sure you do. I love you." Jacob smiled and hugged me tighter.

"I love you too." Then he kissed the top of my head. Then the dryer went off, letting me know that the laundry was done. I kissed Jacob's chest and gently pushed my hands against him to let me go.

"Let's get the laundry. If you're going to put your stuff away, help me fold it all." Jacob smiled and kissed me before letting me go and walking to his dryer.

"Yes, honey." I smiled and followed him to the dryer and got out all the clothes. Once we had them all, we sat together on the couch and talked while we folded clothes.

"Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?" Jacob smiled.

"I always do. Especially when you help cook." Jacob reached over and kissed my chook and I smiled.

"And Jacob." Jacob looked at me.

"Yeah?"

"I know you don't like John, but be nice to him. He's your sister's husband and whether you like it or not, he's family. So no trying to get him to agree to sleeping with a bunch of guys to get the flying car, no bees, no underwear in meat, nothing. Please." Jacob gave me a look like I was asking him to give up his favorite toy.

"But Nessie, it's fun to tease him." I shook my head.

"I know Jacob, but don't. It's childish." Jacob groaned and scooted closer to me and rested his head on my chest and looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. I smiled and started running my fingers through his hair.

"Come on, Nessie. You wouldn't rob me of one of my favorite pass times would you?"

"Sorry Jacob, but I am. Still love me?" Jacob's face lost its puppy dog stare, but he still smiled at me.

"Yes. But I am mad at you." I giggled and kissed him.

"You'll get over it, honey." Jacob grinned and kissed my jaw.

"I don't know Nessie. I'm pretty shaken by your demand." I giggled and kissed him again.

"You're a big boy. You'll get over it." Jacob smiled and took his head away from my chest and kept folding clothes. When we were done, I helped him bring his clothes to his room. When everything was rested on his bed, I took an armful of his pants and was about to go to the closet to put them in their drawer, but Jacob stopped me.

"I'll take care of it, baby." Then he took his pants and went into his closet to put it away. When he came back, I crossed my arms and looked at him suspiciously.

"You seem really determined to keep me out of your closet." Jacob smiled and shrugged.

"I'm sorry if it seems that way."

"You're not hiding something from me are you?" Jacob shook his head.

"Not at all. You can look in there if you want. There's nothing out of the ordinary." I looked at Jacob for a moment trying to decide if he was bluffing. After looking at him for several seconds, I walked around him to his closet and peeked around. When I didn't find anything, I came back out and Jacob just smiled. "Like I said. Nothing there out of the ordinary." I gave Jacob a playful glare.

"Alright Jacob. But you can't blame me for thinking it's suspicious that you want me to stay out of your closet." Jacob gave me a guilty smile.

"I know, Nessie. But now you know nothing's there. I'm sorry for giving you that impression." I shook my head, walked over to him, and hugged him. He hugged me back tightly.

"It's okay. As long as it's just me being paranoid." Jacob smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Don't worry. I still love you." I giggled and kissed his chest.

"Even after I said you can't torment John and snooped through your closet?" Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"Yep. That's love, Nessie." We laughed together for a moment and Jacob lifted me into his arms and started walking around his room aimlessly as we shared innocent little pecks on the lips.

I asked momma and daddy if I could spent the weekend at Jacob's house a little later in the day. Daddy agreed, though he was extremely reluctant to let me. I stayed at Jacob's apartment all weekend, even on Sunday when he had patrol. But while I was there, he would randomly try relentlessly to keep me out of certain places. He would go to that spot first to do something, then I would glance and nothing weird would be there. It was extremely annoying. But I figured I was making something out of nothing and decided to let it go. And Jacob was still showing me with extra affection like he had been every since the wedding, so I figured there was no point in fixing what wasn't broken. No matter how many times I noticed Jacob do that, I tried to ignore it.

**JPOV**

It was getting to be a lot more of a pain than I thought it would be. I'd bought Nessie a ring the other day. I knew she would love it. It was a three stone engagement ring with three really small diamonds on each side of the outer larger quarter karat diamond along the white gold band with a half karat diamond in the very middle and at the center of attention. The wedding band that went with it was a thin ring with almost microscopic diamonds lining the ring. The wedding band I got for myself was just a simple band of white gold. And along the inside of the engagement band, it said I Love You in an old English script. Then the wedding band said on the inside, in Quileute, With All That I Am. If anything would make her teary eyed when she saw the rings, that would be it.

At first, I'd been hiding the rings in my closet, but then I remembered Nessie usually does my laundry. So that hiding place was out. Then, in panic and desperateness, I hid the rings in the kitchen. Once again, a stupid place to hide them since she was always going through the drawers when she was making something for me. Now the rings were hidden in my nightstand out of sight. I was desperately hoping she wouldn't rummage through my drawers looking for something any time soon.

I knew she'd noticed me always keeping her out of things one moment, then brushing it aside like there was nothing there the next. She already knew I was hiding something from her. Any other woman would think I was hiding something bad. But she knew me better than that. The only thing that was left for her to find out was why I was so determined to hide whatever it was I was hiding. It wouldn't take long before she got fed up and would start trying to find out. If she did that, she would find the ring for sure and it would ruin the whole surprise. Nessie thought I wasn't going to officially propose to her and that we weren't getting married until after she graduated from college. That had been the original plan, but I couldn't wait that long.

Though I wanted her, sex wasn't the only reason. Far from it. I just didn't want to wait for her to be my wife. I could wait for the kids. Kids were a lot of work and a lot more than we could handle right now. And I wouldn't let her throw her life away for me. Even if the thought of just being my wife didn't sound like a bad idea to her, I still wouldn't allow it. She deserved to be everything she could be and I wouldn't let her throw that away. Not even for me. But I wanted to marry her.

I wanted there to be a ring on her finger so everyone knew she was mine and mine alone and that no one else could have her. When guys at school asked her out, I wanted her to be able to say that she is a happily married woman and married to me. That's what I wanted more than anything. In blunt terms, I wanted us to officially 'belong' to each other for lack of a better word. Her and I were already pretty much engaged as it was. She still wore her woven promise band I'd made her when she was little every day and we talked about getting married all the time. All I was really doing was making it official that we were engaged. And Alice was already busy as a bee planning the wedding. Alice might not have been able to see Nessie's future reactions, but she knew what she did and didn't like and Bella, Esme, and Rosalie were there to help too.

Alice was even sending out the invitations already. That made me nervous. It wasn't that I thought Nessie would say no. But I did know, as much as I didn't want to admit it, that there was a slight possibility that she would. Billy and Charlie ended up coming to my house asking why I never told them I'd proposed only to hear me tell them that I hadn't proposed yet, Alice was just being presumptuous.

Even when I explained that, Charlie was bug eyed at the news that I was proposing at all. That was a conversation I wished I never had to have with Charlie. Billy stayed with to help me make it a little easier, but in the end, Charlie was furious. He knew Nessie was growing fast, he knew that Nessie and I were always really close, but he never knew we were dating. He also knew that Nessie would be six and I would be twenty four. He'd held his tongue about those strange things about Nessie all her life, but he simply wouldn't have it anymore. Thankfully, this happened when Nessie was still at school. I was at the house because I'd gotten a furious call from Charlie demanding an explanation as to what was going on.

"Look, Charlie, I know what you think this is. But there's really nothing wrong." His eyes widened further and Billy stayed quiet a moment.

"Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong?! Are you out of your god damn mind?! She's six. She should still look like a child. She is still a child." Then Charlie glared at Billy. "You're son's twenty four, Billy. Twenty four! How can you not have a problem with this?!" Billy stayed calm and held up his hands in defense.

"I know what this looks like Charlie and I understand what you're saying. Really, I do. But there's a lot about this that you don't know and, frankly, you made a point not to know."

"Well, tell me now! Tell me why you're not bothered that your son is a pedophile!" Billy finally became angry and his voice showed it.

"Now look here, Charlie. My son may be a lot of things, some good, some bad. But my son sure as hell is no pedophile. He's never laid a hand on Nessie in any way that would be deemed inappropriate." Billy was stretching the truth a little on that statement, but it was true enough that I didn't want to argue it. "And that girl loves him. He loves her too. And Nessie is a grown woman capable of making her own decisions and marrying whomever she pleases. If, for some reason, that isn't Jacob, he wouldn't stop her." Just the thought of his last statement stung worse than a bite from a fire ant.

"Fine than. Explain to me why you have no problem with this. Seriously, Billy. Why isn't this wrong?" Billy and I both took a deep breath. Then I answered in the calmest voice I could.

"You remember six years ago when I showed you….you know…the wolf thing?" Charlie kept glaring, but he nodded. "Okay. Like I said, the Cullens aren't like that, but they are something else. Bella's one, and Nessie's half of one. Same with Ryan and Valerie." Charlie lost his patience before I could finish.

"Damn it, Jacob, just tell me what the hell is going on!" I was quiet a moment and took a deep breath. Edward was going to kill me after this.

"The Cullens are vampires, Charlie." His eyes widened and he was speechless for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was shaking.

"What?"

"They're not human, Charlie. The Cullens never have been. Bella became a vampire after Nessie was born. But Edward needed to do that to save her life. He would have never changed her if he had any other choice."

"My daughter's a vampire?" I nodded.

"Yes. And Carlisle isn't turning forty. He's at least four hundred years old. He was killed when he and the other townspeople pursued vampires that he found hiding in the sewers of London." Charlie just kept gawking at me in shock as I talked. "Jasper fought in the American Civil War as a Confederate soldier when he was human. Emmett grew up in Tennessee in a family that lost their fortune in 29 and he died in the early 1930s by being mulled by a bear. Rosalie was the daughter of a well off banker and his wife in the 1930s and she died two years before Emmett from being raped and beaten by her ex-fiancé. Esme tried to kill herself when she lost her son to SIDS, but Carlisle saved her. Alice knows nothing about her past. She only knows that her parents put her in a psychiatric ward the same day she was recorded to have died and her niece is still alive and lives in Biloxi, Mississippi. Edward's mom and dad all died from the Spanish Influenza and Carlisle saved Edward while he was hanging onto his life by a thread. He was changed in 1918. Bella almost lost her life giving birth to Nessie. Changing her was the only way to save her."

After I said that, Charlie's face never changed. If anything, he started shaking. Billy and I came a little closer to him. He looked mortified and scared. When he finally looked at us again, it was like he was in excruciating pain and his voice was shaking violently with the rest of his body.

"My daughter's dead? She's been dead all these years?" I nodded.

"Technically speaking."

"You all knew this was happening all along. You knew my daughter was dying and none of you told me?" Billy spoke in a calm, reassuring voice.

"We couldn't, Charlie. There's a whole dynamic to vampires and their world that would have put you in danger. And you never would have believed me if I'd told you the truth from the beginning." I continued.

"Nessie, Ryan, and Valerie are growing at such a fast pace because their all half vampire. We don't know why it happens, but we know it does. And we've encountered other half-breeds that we never knew existed before and know that they'll be okay. That's why Nessie's growing so fast. She was already smarter than most people by the time she was a few months old." I hesitated a moment. I wasn't sure if the next thing I wanted to say was a good idea. But when Charlie still didn't respond, I said it. "Nessie and I fell in love when she was three. And now look at her. She could easily pass for twenty at youngest."

Charlie stayed silent. And his face stayed the same no matter how long we waited. Eventually, she started shaking his head gently from side to side as if he were trying to get the truth out of his head. He finally collapsed onto my couch and was still shaking violently. His head was resting in his hands and I could hear his heart speed up. I sat down next to him on the couch and Billy rolled closer.

"This can't be happening. It just can't be." Billy reached over and started patting Charlie's back.

"It was for the best that you didn't know. I'm sorry you had to find out like this. But the Cullens are good people. They're far better than most vampires our tribe encounters and kills. That's why Jacob and the others can turn into wolves. Our ancestors used their powers to fuse with wolves and it's been in the blood of our ancestors ever since and for some reason, when there are a lot of Vampires in the area, the gene kicks in. My grandfather could do it. Now Jacob can. And him and his pack are the only ones strong enough to stand against a vampire. But Carlisle and his coven are different. They drink the blood of animals instead of humans. That's why their eyes are gold."

"My daughter's a vampire and you never told me?"

"I'm sorry, Charlie."

"Why didn't she tell me? I'm her father. I know I'm not the best father in the world, but why couldn't she tell me…?" Charlie started tearing up and Billy kept patting his back to calm him.

"Like I said, Charlie. Vampires are everywhere. There's more of them out there than one would think. They have their own little world that humans, for the longest time, were forbidden to know. The vampire world even had an unofficial royal family until recently. That's why Bella couldn't tell you. If she told you, it would have meant your life." I nodded.

"Charlie." I said his name to let him know I was talking. He deserved to know the whole truth. "Do you remember when Bella first came to Forks to lives with you? The time she stormed out saying if she stayed, she would be stuck here?" I waited a moment. Charlie, though keeping his head in his hands, eventually nodded. "It had nothing to do with you. Edward and the others had taken her to a large field to play baseball, nomad vampires came along, one of those vampires, James, liked the smell of her blood and started hunting her." Charlie started looking at me now. Now he really looked like he was in pain.

"The stairs? Falling through the window? None of that happened?" I shook my head.

"James told her that he was holding Renee hostage and that she needed to come alone to save her. But Renee was still in Florida and was fine. James ended up attacking her at the Ballet studio she used to go to. That's why the ballet studio was burnt down. Disposing of evidence. Edward came just in time to save her, but not before James bit her. Bella almost became a vampire then, but Edward sucked out the venom. That's why she had so much blood loss." Charlie started shaking his head again.

"You mean…..I can't believe this." Charlie was crying now. I didn't blame him. I couldn't imagine how scared he must feel learning that all this happened to Bella.

"And that time the Cullens left. She cut her finger on her present, Jasper lost control and tried to attack her, but Edward saved her again. That's why the Cullens left. Edward felt so guilty that he didn't want to risk putting her in danger again. And one day, I was supposed to take her cliff diving, but the pack needed me. She ended up doing it herself, but she almost drowned."

"Bella threw herself off a cliff?!" Billy kept patting Charlie's back and I nodded.

"She wasn't trying to kill herself. But I saved her before she could drown. Alice had a vision that Bella had done that and Rosalie assumed that she was dead. She called Edward and told him Bella was dead. And it was around the same time that Harry died. So when he called your house and I was there to answer the phone, I told him you were at a funeral. He assumed I meant Bella's. So he went to Italy in the hopes of provoking the Volturi into killing him. That's where Bella was those three days she went missing."

"Who the hell are the Volturi?"

"They were the unofficial royal family to the vampire world. They were the coven that made it a rule that humans were to never know about vampires. Not real ones. Bella went to Italy to save Edward. But they're dead now. Two of the leaders at least. Marcus lived, but he never really agreed with Aro and Caius, so he abandoned them first chance he got. Same thing with all the guards."

"You can't be serious. This is preposterous." I nodded.

"I know it sounds that way, Charlie. But you can ask Carlisle and he will tell you the same thing. Not at first maybe, but he will tell you. I really don't see the point in hiding it from you anymore considering the circumstances."

"You're damn straight I deserve to know. I knew there was something strange going on. But not this. I never imagined this."

"I know, Charlie. Not many people would. But it's true. Bella didn't want to lie to you about this. But when the Volturi were alive, she really had no other choice. Now that they're gone, we have no reason to lie to you anymore. But you didn't want to know, so we didn't tell you." Charlie was starting to stop shaking at last and he looked a little less pained, but he was still upset.

"Does Renee know about this?" I shook my head.

"Not from what I know. I don't think Bella ever told her either." Charlie breathed in and out trying to calm down. When he was finally under control, he sighed.

"I suppose that makes me feel a little better." Then Charlie looked at me again. "This is why you marrying my six year old granddaughter isn't weird?" I shrugged.

"In a way it is. She's an adult, yes. And I would never force her into anything. But the Quileute wolves go through something called imprinting. It's pretty much love at first sight. We don't know why it happens, but it does. I imprinted on Nessie. That means I am what she wants me to be. When she was younger, I was her best friend and the one that kept her out of trouble. Now that she's older, I'm still her best friend and her protector, but now I'm also the man she loves. And I love her too. I always have. That love simply turned romantic once she started feeling that way for me."

"So in other words, you two were destined for each other. Is that it?" I shrugged.

"In a way. When a wolf imprints, it's like gravity isn't what's keeping us on earth anymore. The one we imprint becomes the center of our world and attention. That's what it's like for Quil too." Charlie's eyes widened again.

"Claire's nine." I nodded.

"I know. He imprinted on her when he first met her when she was two. And his love for her isn't romantic. It won't be for at least six or seven years. For the time being, he's just her best friend and much abused nanny." Charlie laughed a little at last.

"I remember that. Nessie used to torment you all the time." I nodded.

"Yeah. That's why Sam, Paul, Jared, and Seth are lucky. They imprinted on women their age or close to their age. That does make things easier. But sometimes, you imprint on a child or a new born. So we be what they need us to be until they fall in love with us when they get older."

"And that's why it's okay for you to marry my six year old granddaughter?" I smiled and nodded.

"That and because she grew a lot faster. And she stops aging around six. At least that's what other half-breeds we've met have told us. We know a half-breed that was born in the mid 1800s and he still doesn't look a day over twenty seven." Charlie laughed without humor this time.

"You're kidding." I shook my head.

"Sorry, no." Then Charlie sighed heavily.

"I guess I better confront Carlisle about this whole thing with Bella." I smiled a little.

"So does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Charlie gave me a weird look and shook his head.

"I'm feeling an odd sense of repetition." I smiled.

"I know. I'll take care of her, Charlie. I would never hurt her and she'll always be safe. I know Edward already said this to you when he and Bella got engaged, but I mean it just as much as Edward did." Charlie sighed.

"But you haven't proposed yet?" I shook my head.

"I was planning to wait until her graduation party. I might have to do it sooner before someone walks up to Nessie and thanks her for the invitation to her wedding she didn't even know was happening. Aida already promised to stay quiet, but I don't know who else Alice is sending invitations to. Family and friends for sure. There's going to be a lot of vampires at that wedding. And the pack of course. I think Nessie will want to make Ryan the ring bearer and Valerie the flower girl." Billy hit my shoulder. "What?"

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Jacob. Let me tell you something Jacob. The moment you pop the question, it isn't your wedding anymore. It's hers. You're just lucky enough to come along for the ride." I chuckled.

"Was that what it was like with mom?" Billy nodded with a smile and Charlie chuckled.

"I would give her my opinion, she'd go the opposite way. I would say red, so she went with blue. Eventually, I wasn't really helping plan the wedding anymore. I was just helping her pay for it."

"Was it at least still the best day of your life?" Billy grinned a silly grin when he thought about mom.

"I'd relive that day a million times if I could." Billy sighed a little in sadness. "God, I miss her." I smiled weakly. I didn't remember mom. I was little when she died. I always wished I could know her like Rachael and Rebecca did.

"I know, dad." Charlie smiled a little. "So what do you say, Charlie? Can I marry Nessie?" Charlie laughed a little with minimal humor.

"Shouldn't you be asking Edward about that?"

"I already did. He's already made it clear that we can get married now, but kids better not come along for a good while. I'll become his throw rug if she gets pregnant."

"Makes sense. So where is Nessie going for college?"

"God, I don't know. She's applied to a million universities and been accepted by all of them. Augustana in Illinois is practically paying her to go there. She's had so many grant and scholarship offers that Edward probably won't have to pay a dime for Nessie to go to college. Edward really wants her to go to Yale or Dartmouth though."

"Does she know what she wants to major in?" I shook my head.

"No clue. All I know is she refuses to ever be a doctor or a lawyer. Those medical and legal journals bore her to tears. She would never make something like that her life's work." Charlie laughed awkwardly again.

"I still can't believe all this. It's so….inconceivable."

"Just take a minute to let it all in." We were all quiet for a moment. Then Charlie said something in a slightly humored voice.

"I guess that does explain a lot. Why Carlisle never works on sunny days, why no one ever sees the Cullens eat, so on. And it explains why Bella was so……..different." I nodded.

"Yeah. She's still Bella, Charlie. She's just shinier." Billy chuckled at my joke, but Charlie didn't.

"I don't get it."

"Vampires don't burn in sunlight. They shine. If you take the time to look at it without having to worry about being killed, it's actually really pretty. Nessie's skin does it too. But it's so subtle that a human would have to look at her skin with a magnifying glass to see it." Charlie sighed and got up from the couch.

"Is it safe to assume you'll get in trouble with the Cullens for telling me all this?" I nodded.

"Without a doubt. I'll be hiding behind Nessie when I tell them. Just don't tell anyone else about this. It's bad enough that Nessie's friend, Aida, knows about all this. The last thing the Cullens need is all of Forks knowing. They'll have to move if that happens. And Charlie, I can't handle that. I don't think you could either." Charlie nodded a little.

"I won't tell anyone. This is between family and family only. Should I at least tell Renee?" I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head.

"Talk to Bella before you do that. I think Bella wants Renee to be as uninvolved with this whole thing as possible." Charlie shrugged.

"I guess." Then Charlie sighed. "And to answer your question Jacob, yes, you may marry my granddaughter. I always knew you two were close and I know that you're probably the best man for her." I smiled at Charlie sincerely.

"Thanks Charlie. It really means a lot to hear you say that." Charlie nodded.

"Any time." Then he took a deep breath. "I guess I better talk to Carlisle now." I nodded.

"He'll confirm everything I told you. He'll be reluctant, mind you, but he will tell you. And it's sunny outside, so he'll be home from work today."

"Thanks Jacob." Then Charlie waved goodbye to us and left my apartment to make his way to the house. I swear I could feel a chill go down my spine thirty minutes later. Edward was probably on his way over to skin me.

So far, no one's called me about the talk Billy and I had with Charlie. I was hopeful that maybe they weren't mad about it. But that seemed unlikely. I wasn't that lucky. I was just relieved Nessie wasn't around to hear all that.

Over the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nessie and I went hunting, watched movies together, went to Port Angeles for a movie we didn't watch, and all the other things we usually did. Saturday, we even ordered Chinese food. We hadn't read fortunes in forever. We had a good laugh about the fortunes and watched a violent slasher movie afterwards that we didn't watch. We were making out almost all night. We made out on my couch and were making on when we went to bed. That Sunday morning, Billy called my phone, waking me up, to let me know that Rebecca and John arrived. I groaned in acknowledgement and hung up. I was too tired. I was just glad no one was going on patrol tonight or tomorrow. Alice didn't see any nomads coming through here, but she would let us know the moment that changed. After I hung up on Billy, I tried to go back to sleep. But the phone had woken Nessie too, and she was kissing my chest.

"Who was that?" When I answered her, my voice was gruff with sleep.

"Billy. Rebecca and John are here." She smiled and kissed my peck again.

"That's good to hear. Remember what I told you Jacob." I rolled my eyes behind my closed lids.

"No tormenting John. I got it." She giggled and kissed my collarbone.

"Good boy." I couldn't help but chuckle. Nessie only smiled and kept kissing my collarbone and neck.

"You're wide awake now, aren't you?" She giggled and nodded.

"I'm afraid so, Jacob." She kept kissing my chest and kissed until she reached my ear and bit gently and licked with the tip of her tongue. It was too early in the morning. I needed to stop her or I'd never be able to do it later.

"It's still sleepy time, Nessie." She giggled and bit my ear again. Then she blew on my ear and I could swear she purred.

"But I'm not sleepy." I groaned, but that groan wasn't exactly in annoyance.

"I can see that, baby."

She smiled and brought her lips to mine. She made the kiss instantly passionate. She dipped her tongue into my mouth and she started running the tip of her tongue all over my mouth. I did the same to her. The more of her mouth I tasted, the dizzier I became. I would never tell Nessie this because I know it would upset her, but I remembered the kiss, the real kiss, that Bella and I had shared so long ago. I had thought that kiss had been true. I had loved Bella. I was heartbroken knowing that she picked a blood sucker over me. But this was so different. In Nessie's kiss, I felt a love I hadn't felt in Bella's kiss. Nessie loved me with all her heart and had no doubt in her mind about me. And I loved her too. More than air. More than my beating heart. She made my life worth living again. She looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes and silently told me that everything was better now. I think I would be dead now if it weren't for Nessie. Whether from the pack's wrath at the time, the angry vampires, or whatever, I would be dead. Nessie made everything okay again. Better than okay. I had started questioning a long, long time ago how I'd ever managed to live without her.

"I love you, Renesmee." I said through the kiss. Nessie smiled and took her lips away and looked into my eyes.

"I love you too, Jacob." I captured her lips then. She didn't push me away or try to stop me. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me with her as she rolled onto her back, pulling me on top of her.

I didn't fight her. I didn't have the will. I was simply too tired to resist her. And I loved her so much. I could feel my rationality fly out the window and I couldn't bring myself to care in the slightest. When I was on top, we kept kissing passionately. After several minutes, I took her bottom lip into my mouth and suckled and bit. Nessie did the same to my top lip. When I groaned from pleasure, Nessie raised her hips against mine to tease me. I smiled and we kept kissing. As we kissed, her hands wandered all over me and it made my head spin. I was resting my weight on my elbows and kissing her deeply as her hands ran along my back and over my chest and shoulders and threaded through my hair. She was cradling my thighs now and I was resting all my weight on either my elbows or her. She didn't mind in the least.

She moaned my name when I took my lips away and kissed along her jaw, sucking her skin every now and then, and I kept kissing her neck and sucking on her ear. She lifted her hips up against mine and that made me groan. She was still moaning and saying my name every now and then. She knew what she was doing. I couldn't fight her this time. I simply didn't want to. When I encountered the top of Nessie's tank top, I kissed her breast through that and the fabric of her bra and heard her moan. She had a blissful smile on her face. It was the most beautiful smile in the whole world. After I kissed each of her breasts, I started kissing her ribcage and her belly, and she moaned with every kiss. When I was at the hem of her shirt, I pushed it aside with my free hand that was on her hip and started kissing her bare skin. She squeaked when I did that. But it was in pleasure.

I kissed her bare belly several times and kissed every part of her that was exposed as I ran my hand slowly up her tank top. Her fingers twined through my hair and she pulled on my hair without hurting me. Every time she moaned my name, it filled me with a power I'd never known before. And it made me yearn to please her. Finally, my hand hit the hem of her bra and I slid my hand under it and cupped her full right breast. She moaned with joy when she felt it and I could smell her get teary eyed. I checked to see if she was sad, but it was the complete opposite. She was smiling like a woman dancing on the clouds. I smiled up at her and she smiled back. I reached up and kissed her again and licked her lips and sucked on her bottom lip for just a moment, then went back to my original destination. Then Nessie started giggling.

"To think. All I ever needed to do was seduce you when you were tired." I chuckled and sucked on her skin at her ribcage.

"There's more to it than that, Renesmee." She only smiled and didn't question me. She just let her head fall back and let herself feel.

Now both of my hands were on her waist as I kissed, pushing up her tank top. My lips were coming dangerously close to her bare breast and she looked overjoyed about it. Like a child on Christmas morning. I licked and sucked and kissed her skin on her ribs, wanting to tease her a little. I kissed her until I reached under her breast and then kissed the mound of flesh. It wasn't even the best part and it blew my mind. She was soft and supple, like kissing silk. I started kissing up her breast and my nose was at her nipple when my house phone rang. It startled me and made me jump a little.

"Just ignore it Jacob. I'm begging you, just ignore it." Then her hands pulled my head back to her chest and I continued what I was doing. The sound of the phone started to get drowned out and I almost couldn't hear it anymore. At long last, I took her nipple into my mouth and licked and sucked. She moaned in satisfaction and I groaned. We were taken out of our trance when my house phone went to the answering machine.

"_Jacob, get the hell down here now! Bella and I are outside in the parking lot. And get your hands off my daughter!!!"_ I practically leaped away from Nessie and fell off my bed and landed on my back all in one motion. Nessie screamed once in anger.

"GOD DAMN IT!!"

"_Watch it young lady."_ Then Edward finally hung up his phone. When I was sitting up on the floor, I saw Nessie crushing her face into my pillow and hitting her head against it repeatedly in aggravation. Then she started crying. I stumbled to my feet and walked over to her and took her into my arms and she rested her head on my shoulder and kept crying.

"Don't cry, Nessie. It's just Edward. It's okay." She shook her head.

"No it isn't! This happens every time! I'm sick of it." I hugged her tighter and kissed her head as she cried.

"I'm sorry, Nessie. I'll make it up to you. I promise." She kept sobbing into my shoulder and I started kissing her face trying to console her. Then my phone started ringing and I let her go. "Jesus Christ Edward, I'm coming. Just give me a minute." I mumbled it, but he could undoubtedly hear it in my thoughts. Then my phone went to answering machine again.

"_I already gave you forty seconds and that's forty seconds longer than what I have the patience for right now!"_ Then Edward hung up again. I sighed heavily before kissing Nessie's head and letting her bury her face into her pillow still sobbing.

Before I went outside, I put on the baggiest shirt I had. It was a shirt that the pack got me as a joke. It was a huge XXXL type of shirts that usually only served as pajamas, or in this case to hide that I was…….happy. When I had that on, I walked out of my apartment and went outside where Edward and Bella were sitting on the silver Volvo. Edward was glaring at me. Bella looked like she was mad at me, but nowhere near as much. She looked like she was mad at Edward too. When I reached them, Edward was the first one to have a tantrum.

"What gives you the right to tell Charlie about us?" I shrugged.

"Well, excuse me, Edward, but what do you want me to do? Tell him that Nessie's naturally a really fast grower? He's not stupid, Edward."

"I never said he was. He was comfortably in the dark." I nodded sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, he was overjoyed. If you want to blame anyone for this, blame Tinkerbelle. She's the one that already started sending out invitations. That's why Charlie got upset and that's why I explained everything to him. And don't tell me you guys are protecting him. That's a load of shit now and you know it." Bella grabbed Edward's shoulder to keep him quiet before she answered me.

"Jacob, I understand why you told him. But you have to remember that this isn't your story to tell. I had to spend a good three hours explaining everything to Charlie and watch him cry whenever the seriousness of it all hit him. I don't want him to blame the Cullens for all this." Edward looked at Bella.

"Don't worry, Bella, he doesn't. He's grateful to know the truth, but he is still upset about all this." Bella nodded. Then Edward glared back at me again. "And where do you get off….?" I stopped him, knowing immediately from his tone what he was mad about.

"You know what Edward, I'm not a saint, I'm a man. So sue me."

"I might, Jacob." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, Edward. Sue me for everything I have. And after that, you can explain to Alice why Renesmee and I eloped." Edward kept glaring and Bella's eyes widened.

"You what?!" I shook my head.

"We haven't. I'm just saying that's what would happen. And, Edward, you know damn well it wouldn't be my idea either. So don't lecture me."

"I have every right to lecture you! You defiled her!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" Finally, Bella had enough.

"That's it, both of you just shut up!" Edward and I stayed quiet. Then Bella took a moment to calm her voice before continuing. "Jacob, you know Edward's wishes regarding this matter. Though he's acting irrationally about this,"

"Irrationally?!" Bella put her finger over Edward's lips.

"But, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take our opinion into account."

"And being tired isn't an excuse for going too far." Bella looked at Edward, and he shut up again.

"And you, love, need to accept the fact that Nessie is an adult and has a right to her own decisions and her own opinion. That also means trusting her with this matter. Isn't that the reason we put her on the pill in the first place?."

"That's for after they get married." Bella shrugged.

"That was the intention, yes. But the fact of the matter is that you can't always be around, Edward. If she decides that's what she wants from Jacob, then that's what she wants, and much like you, I might add, when she wants something, she goes after it."

"Not when she's living with me, she isn't." Bella sighed.

"Edward."

"What?"

"Take a wild guess who you're talking like right now." Bella seemed to lift up her shield and tell Edward the answer. His face became aware, but he was still mad. "And do you remember what I threatened to do if Charlie didn't let us be together?" Edward's face became extremely aware, then he glared back at me.

"You wouldn't dare." I held up my hands in defense.

"Look, Edward, if Nessie wants to move in with me, I have no problem with that. I wouldn't stop her if that's what she wanted." Edward nodded in anger and sarcasm.

"Alright, fine Jacob. Does that mean you can pay $45,000 a year to send her to Yale? That doesn't include living expenses and food, you know." I could swear my heart stopped.

"How much?"

"If you take into account living expenses and food along with books for her classes, a good computer, supplies, money to pay for the gas in her car. Ultimately, we're talking well over $50,000 a year. And she'd be at Yale for four years. That means you'll be paying a total of $200,000 dollars. And that's if she goes into college knowing what she wants to major in. And if she does end up deciding she wants to be a doctor, that's at least eight years of college. That's $400,000 dollars. Alice made you well off, Jacob, but you aren't that rich."

"When has Nessie ever said she wanted to go to Yale? And another thing, she's getting scholarships from everyone. Just send her to Augustana in Illinois. They're practically paying her to go there. Or let her go to The Peninsula College so she's close. Or even the University of Seattle." Edward finally sighed.

"It's not about keeping her close. It's about giving her the best education money can buy. If she wants to go to the community college in Port Angeles, that's fine. But if she wants to go to Dartmouth or even Oxford, England, that's good too." I rolled my eyes at him and lightly shook my head.

"I can already tell you she doesn't want to go to Oxford." Edward shrugged.

"Not now, but maybe she'll change her mind. College is a big decision and she needs to really think about it. She doesn't have to decide her major now, but she does need to be thinking about what college she would like. And that doesn't include pawing at her in the morning."

"Damn it, Edward, I'm sorry, okay. Nothing happened. Don't bitch about something that didn't happen."

"You're really pushing your luck, mutt." Bella grabbed onto Edward's shoulder and gave him a stern look. When Edward calmed, Bella looked at me.

"Just respect our wishes concerning that little matter and we'll all be fine. You two finally became slightly friends. I'd like it to stay that way if you don't mind." Edward and I looked at each other and both sighed to calm down.

"Sorry, love. But all my points remain valid. Thanks to you, Charlie knows about us now. Seeing as the Volturi are gone, he's not in danger anymore. But if something like this ever happens again, you send him straight to us and we'll handle it properly." Then Edward walked to the driver's side of the Volvo and unlocked it to get in. And Bella got in on the passenger's side. "Oh, and Jacob, one more thing."

"What?"

"Keep your hands off my daughter." Bella hit his arm from the other seat, but Edward didn't flinch. He simply had his last glare and got into the car and drove off.

I simply rolled my eyes once and started making my way back to the apartment. When I got back, Nessie was still in my room. She wasn't sobbing anymore to my relief, but her face was still buried in the pillow. When I got to my room, I sat on the edge of the bed and put my hand on her back. She turned over and held onto my hand, not making a move to sit up.

"Are you feeling better?" Nessie shook her head.

"I'm just so angry." I nodded.

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty pissed too. But don't worry, I'll make it up to you."

"Now?" I smiled a little and shook my head. "When?" I smiled a little wider.

"The day I make you my wife." She finally smiled a little.

"But that's so far away." I was grinning ear to ear now.

"I'm sure it will go by fast." She smiled wider and pulled herself up with my arm and hugged my arm when she was upright. I rested my cheek on the top of her head.

"By the way, Jacob."

"Yeah, baby?" She giggled a little.

"Did daddy say anything about……you know….?"

"What?" Nessie giggled again, touched my face, and showed me what she was thinking. I blushed a little. "Oh. No he didn't say anything about that. I'm hoping my baggy t-shirt method worked." She giggled more.

"Is it still there?" I looked at Nessie with a weird look and she only smiled at me. I blushed even more.

"Sort of." Nessie laughed and looked at me teasingly and with pity. Then she reached up to kiss me. It was an innocent kiss. But I felt her hand started to wonder to my chest. Then, suddenly, her hand shot down and grabbed my junk, then leaping away from me to next second. When she'd touched me, I groaned a lot louder than I normally would. She swayed a little with an innocent look on her face when I was finally looking at her.

"I'm sure you want to take care of that. I know getting rid of a boner is hard to do. I'll go make you some breakfast." Then she danced out of my room and to the kitchen where she started rummaging around for things.

"It doesn't help that you grabbed it, Nessie." I mumbled. She could hear me. When I said that, she just laughed and kept searching through my fridge for things to make.

I took a deep breath and got up from my bed and made my way to the bathroom. I turned the shower on freezing cold, desperately hoping it would help. It helped a little, but not as much as I would have liked. I tried my best not to think about what Nessie and I had done. It would only make me hard again. As I took my shower, I tried to think of everything that would possibly turn me off. I thought about all my pack members naked, and that did it. I sighed in relief. When it was gone, I turned the shower to its hottest setting and started washing off. When I was clean, I got out and dried my hair. When I was pretty much dry, I opened my bathroom door and peaked out to make sure Nessie wasn't there. I still forgot to bring in fresh clothes with me every now and then. And I didn't want a repeat of that whole seeing me naked incident.

She wasn't in my room, so I didn't bother with a towel. I just walked over to my closet and stepped in looking for clean clothes. Nessie and I probably weren't going to do anything that required leaving the house today, so I just put on my boxers and sweats. When I walked out of my room, I saw Nessie with her neck arched. I realized she was talking on the phone. Whoever she was talking to was giving her a response. When that person was done, Nessie continued.

"Yes, Aida. We were really about to do it." I stayed in the hall and listened. "God, Aida, stop being so vulgar. I'm calling because I'm so mad about this. We were that close." The Nessie leaned over the counter and groaned, though she still paid attention to the pancakes she was making me. "Yes, this entitles a call this early. It's almost noon, Aida, you should be out of bed by now anyway." Then Nessie glanced in my direction, went slightly wide eyed, then interrupted whatever Aida'd been saying. "I'll let you go back to sleep, then." Nessie hung up the phone and went straight to the pancakes.

I finally walked to the kitchen and grabbed her into my arms while she was flipping the pancakes. I kissed along her neck, but we both stayed quiet. I only held her while she finished cooking and I squeezed her tightly and kissed all over her neck in a silent way to say I was sorry. When she was done, she got out a plate and put the pancakes on with smears of butter on both cakes. Then she turned around in my arms and handed me my plate and a fork.

"Enjoy your pancakes." I sighed.

"I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me." She shook her head.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad. Furious even."

"I know. Frankly, I am too. But at least remember that it was Edward that interrupted us. I'm innocent in all this." Nessie giggled and reached up and kissed my neck.

"I would hardly call your actions innocent." She hugged me around my waist and nuzzled my chest. I put down my food and held her in return.

"You're one to talk." She giggled and kissed my chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said it with a smile. I rolled my eyes and kissed the top of her head. She knew damn well what I was talking about. Little man eater. "Still love me Jacob?" I chuckled and brought one hand up to her chin and lifted her head to look at me.

"Always, Renesmee." She smiled and reached up to kiss me. The kiss stayed innocent. I bit her bottom lip, but only for a moment before I kissed the tip of her nose and ended it. "I told you I'd make it up to you, Nessie. And I mean it. I just need you to be patient." She lost a little of her smile, but she nodded her head.

"Don't keep me waiting too long." She kissed me one last time and I released her to let her go to the table with me and watch me eat. "So what time are we leaving tomorrow?"

"I figured we'd wait until later in the morning. Noon or something. No one else will show up until then anyway." She shrugged.

"I guess. Is the pack coming." I chuckled and nodded.

"Of course they're coming. They'd never turn down free food." She giggled and shook her head.

"Oh, Jacob." She was silent a moment, then spoke again in a stern voice. "And remember what I said, Jacob. Don't torment John. Whether you like it or not, he's your brother-in-law, so you treat him that way."

"Yes, dear." My voice was teasing and she just smiled and rested her hand on my free one and caressed my knuckles with the tips of her fingers.

Nessie and I spent the rest of the day watching TV together and talking. She asked about why momma and daddy were mad. She didn't think they would've come all the way over here if it wasn't something serious. I told her part of the truth. I told her that he had somehow found out we were together and he wasn't comfortable with it, but was fine with it now that I'd explained everything to him. But Edward and Bella were upset with me for taking matters into my own hands. To my relief, Nessie didn't ask for further information and just dropped the matter once I'd explained what happened.

When Nessie and I went to bed that night, she was sure to cuddle closer to me than usual. I didn't say anything, but she was teasing me. I only kissed the top of her head and turned out the lights so we could sleep. When I woke up the next morning, Nessie wasn't at my side. I heard the shower going in her bathroom, so I didn't worry about it. I looked at the time and groaned to myself. I couldn't believe I'd slept in 'til eleven thirty. I planned on having a word with Nessie for not waking me up so I could take a shower and not have to rush. I got out of bed and went to the shower to wash up. Alice had cut my hair recently, so it was short and easy to deal with. When I was done with my shower, I rubbed my towel over my head to dry my hair a little and wrapped it around my hip and walked out to my closet. I found a pair of clean dark wash jeans and a plain black t-shirt to wear and got dressed.

"Jacob!" I heard Nessie call for me from the living room.

"Yeah?!"

"Are you ready?!" I nodded even though she wasn't there.

"Yeah, Nessie I'll be out in a second." I tried to dry my hair a little more with a different towel, then walked out of my room and met Nessie at the door. She smiled weirdly at me. "What?"

"You didn't shave." I touched my jaw and felt the stubble.

"Do you want me to do that?" She smiled wider.

"Sorry, but I would like you to." I smiled a little.

"Alright, Nessie." I leaned in and kissed her and she didn't push me away. To tease her, I held her shoulders and rubbed my cheek across hers. She yelped in surprise and pushed me away, and I simply smiled at her.

"Definitely shave that thing. It's lethal." I nodded as I walked to my room.

"Yes, dear." She giggled after that and waited at the front door while I shaved. When I was clean, I went back out to the door and she smiled.

"Much better." I chuckled and hugged her.

"Was it that bad." She shrugged.

"Not really. It's just that Thanksgiving isn't a time to neglect a shave. Though I will admit, the stubble's becoming. I'd want you to keep it if it didn't scratch su much." I smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Sorry, baby. I was just teasing you." She nodded and reached up to kiss me and nuzzled my nose.

"I know, and I still love you." I grinned wider and kissed her.

"I love you too." We shared one last peck, then she took my hand and pulled me with her out the door. I locked up and followed after her until we got to my car. I had keys to all three, so a though crossed my mind. "I never took you anywhere on my bike have I?" She shook her head.

"Nope. Never." Nessie's hair was curly as ever. I'm sure it would survive a helmet.

"You want to? I haven't driven it in a while." She smiled and touched her hair. After she thought about it, she grinned wider and reached up to kiss me.

"Sounds like fun." I smiled and walked to my bike and handed her one of the helmets on the bike. When we both had on our helmets, she sat behind me on the bike and held on tight long before we were even going fast.

"Are you scared? We can take the car if you want." She shook her head.

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to hold on tight." I smiled at her, but she couldn't see it through the helmet. I backed out of the space and put the bike at top speed.

Nessie held on tight through the whole ride. She wasn't scared I knew. If she were she would have pushed those thoughts into my head. But she was pretty much silent. Then when we were halfway to her house, she rested her head affectionately on my back and I couldn't hold back a smile. I turned into the woods when we finally reached the path to the house and cut my speed in half. I parked the bike outside. Sam's and Jared's cars were already parked in the garage. Quil's car was parked behind Sam's and Charlie's police car was parked behind Jared's. When the bike was parked and off, Nessie took off her helmet and got off, me following after.

"So how'd you like the bike?" She grinned.

"It's certainly a nice change for a summer day." I smiled and she reached up to kiss me. "And my hair's still curly." I chuckled and nuzzled her nose.

"I don't think anything can make your hair flat. You hair's thick as a wolf." She giggled.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" We laughed a little and I lifted her up into my arms and kissed her. Her hands rested on my shoulders and she nuzzled my nose.

"Little man eater." She kept smiling.

"Mutt." We laughed together a little And she kissed the tip of my nose. After that, I put her down and she took my hand in hers and led me with her to the house. I saw Edward at the front door. But he didn't look mad. Then I saw Quil, Sam, Jared, Paul, Seth, and Embry start to walk over to me and Nessie.

"Nessie." Edward called for Nessie and she looked at him. The others waited for Edward to finish. "Come with me to the kitchen. Your mother and Esme could use some extra help." Nessie nodded at Edward, hugged me, then ran off to the house. When she was gone, everyone crowded around me with big smiles.

"What's got you guys so happy?" Quil gave me a confused look as if it were obvious.

"What do you think, Jake. You proposed. Congratulations." I shook my head.

"No I didn't. Not yet." Sam spoke next.

"You didn't propose yet?" I shook my head. Then Embry spoke.

"But you've already sent out invitations." Paul spoke before I could answer.

"Wow. That's ballsy, even for me." I shook my head.

"Alice sent them out. She's the one planning the wedding." Paul spoke again.

"Still pretty ballsy to be planning a wedding that isn't even definite yet. You haven't even asked."

"I know Paul." They all shrugged and Embry spoke next.

"I actually thought you two would wait until after she graduated from college." I nodded.

"That was the original plan, yes." Then Paul started laughing and a chill went down my spine that could only mean Edward was hissing. "What?"

"She's pregnant isn't she?" My eyes widened and I shook my head.

"No! She's not pregnant. I just decided I wanted to get married sooner. If she decides she'd rather wait, then that'll be fine too." Paul nodded.

"Sure Jacob. You'll be completely fine if she says no. I see you turning into your wolf and free running through Canada in a fit of grief." Jared hit Paul over the head.

"Not cool, dude." Then Jared looked at me. "Don't worry Jacob. Ease into the question so it's more romantic. You know, talk about how much you love her and all that then ask her to marry you." Paul gave Jared a weird look.

"This coming from the man that blurted out, 'Will you marry me?', randomly while she was babbling on about hair?" Jared glared at Paul.

"Shut up, I was nervous. And she started crying, leaped into my arms and said yes, so it worked." Seth shrugged.

"Better than proposing during sex." Paul laughed and a few of us laughed too. I shook my head teasingly at him.

"I still can't believe that's how you did it." Seth nodded.

"I know. I wasn't even planning to ask." Then Sam shrugged.

"Orgasms. Nothing you can do." Seth shook his head.

"That's not why I proposed. I proposed because I love her and at that exact moment, it just felt right. I mean, yes, asking a woman to marry you after you just came isn't exactly a textbook proposal, but she was happy and said yes. That's all that matters. And I would've asked anyway. And we aren't getting married until after graduation." Paul grinned.

"Do it something like how I did. Put the ring in the middle of a red rose and just hand it to her. Rachael was speechless for a good thirty seconds. I asked her to marry me and she said yes."

"Thanks Paul, but I don't think Nessie would appreciate a hand-me-down approach. I want to do something different." Paul grinned.

"There's not much you can do that anyone would consider different. Just about every possible method's been done before. At least my ring in the single live red rose was clever, and well thought out unlike blurting it out while she's talking or asking after sex." Seth and Jared gave Paul a mean look, but didn't say anything. I ignored the comment.

"I didn't say it wasn't, but you did that. Nessie knows that. I don't want her to think I didn't put any thought into it." Paul shrugged. Then Seth spoke.

"Just do what feels right. That's all you can do. Sometimes what you had planned doesn't work out. And you end up asking in a way that's much more suitable." I smiled a little and ignored Paul's snickering at what obvious thing he wanted to say.

"Thanks Seth." He smiled and nodded. Then Embry spoke.

"Well, now that that's cleared up, let's go inside. Billy and Charlie are watching the game." I smiled a little guilty.

"How does he look?" They immediately knew what I was talking about and Sam answered me.

"He was a little jumpy for a few hours. It was like he was scared one of the Cullens would jump him. But once Jasper got him relaxed, he and Emmett have been rooting for the team." I sighed in relief.

"Alright. As long as everything's okay." After that, we started walking back to the house. Then I remembered something. "So Rebecca and John aren't here yet?" They all shook their heads. Quil spoke.

"Not yet. She called the house and said she was going to be late." I shrugged.

"It happens when your husband's a deadbeat I suppose." They all laughed under their breath. When Quil stopped laughing, he responded.

"He's not a deadbeat, Jacob. An asshole, maybe, but not a deadbeat."

We laughed a little more and saw most of the guests on the couch watching the game. Bella, Esme, Alice, Rosalie, Rachael, Kim, Emily, Alyssa, and Carlisle were all in the kitchen cooking. Edward was in the music room playing the piano. I saw Ryan and Valerie in the corner playing go-fish. Aside from them, all the other kids were outside playing with Sue watching them. Quil had run outside to be with Claire and started playing tag with all the other children.

Shortly after I took a seat in front of the wide screen TV to watch the game, I heard another car pull in and knew it was John and Rebecca. They came in and I looked over at them and smiled.

"Hey Rebecca. John." Rebecca smiled at me and John smiled too, but his smile was a little nervous. There was a reason Rebecca and John usually went to Mississippi to have Thanksgiving with his family. His family didn't poke fun at him the whole time.

"Hey, Jacob. We brought sweet potatoes." Billy sighed in joy.

"Oh honey, you know how much I love sweet potatoes." Rebecca smiled.

"That's why I brought them, daddy. I'll take them into the kitchen. They still need to be baked."

Rebecca went to the kitchen and John took a spot on the floor watching the game. Charlie and Billy were talking to each other, so I let them be. John was sitting right next to me and I instinctually felt uncomfortable. I bet he felt the same way. Somehow, I think he knew I was always the one that played all those tricks on him. It just surprised me that he would never try to get me back or something. Once everybody was at the house, Bella and the others started preparing all the dishes that wouldn't take long to cook. The turkey they were cooking had at least two and a half hours to go, or so Nessie told me. I'd gone into the kitchen to check on her and noticed she was making green bean casserole. That was all it took to really make me happy. I don't know what Nessie did to it, but hers was the best in the world. She'd made it for us for the first time two years ago and I'd been hooked on that stuff ever since. I would proudly beg for that food.

Emmett had already made some venison sausage the night before for Ryan to eat. All that needed was to be cooked. And Bella was grilling peaches for Valerie. We'd recently discovered her love of peaches. I got bored with watching them game and went back into the kitchen. Nessie had already finished the green bean casserole. Now she was just waiting for the right time to put it in the oven. She was talking to Bella, who was simultaneously peeling potatoes. She had three done in under four seconds. Bella smiled when she saw me and started concentrating on the potatoes. Nessie looked at me with a sweet smile on her face. A smile that made me smile in return.

"So how's everything going with John?" I shrugged.

"It's weird." She smiled wider.

"Thanks for leaving him be. You never know, Rebecca might visit more often if you just leave John alone." I suddenly felt Rebecca's hand on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder at her and saw a stern look on her face.

"Jacob, remember that you're not a child anymore. I know that you and daddy don't like him, but the fact of the matter is that I do and he's a good husband. Please treat him like a part of the family. I promise you that you'll all get along a lot better if you treat him like a human being." I sighed and Nessie smiled at me in a way that told me that she expected the same.

"I get it Rebecca. I'll be nice to him." Rebecca smiled and hugged me around my neck and kissed the top of my head.

"That's a good baby brother." Then she let go of me and went back to what she'd been doing. Nessie only giggled and patted my hand.

**NPOV**

The rest of the evening went on without a hitch for the most part. Jacob slipped once or twice and insulting John for something he said, but nothing more than that. I was proud of him for not being mean to John. What surprised me is that during halftime of the game, they actually started having a pleasant conversation. John told Jacob about his experiences when he was training in Guam and showed him a scar he had on his ankle from when he was bitten by a tropical spider.

"That's disgusting." John laughed without humor.

"You think the scar's bad, you should've seen it when it was swollen to the size of half a gulf ball and oozing." Jacob shuddered and Set spoke.

"Come one guys, we'll be eating soon. I don't want the thought of an oozing spider bite in my head while I'm eating." John and Jacob laughed a little and stopped talking about spider bites.

When dinner was finally ready, Jacob and John actually sat next to each other and talked through the meal. I was really impressed with Jacob and I couldn't help but smile to myself the whole time they talked. I saw Rebecca smiling too. I think she wanted Jacob and John to get along more than I did. And unlike last time when they visited, John and Rebecca actually stayed long into the afternoon instead of leaving as soon as they were done with dinner. I asked daddy if he would let me spend the night with Jacob again. Momma was the one to say it was okay and spoke with daddy in an inaudible whisper in his ear about why she approved. I didn't argue and just followed Jacob out to the car. We ended up catching John and Rebecca before they got into their car and Jacob called for John to hold on. Then he walked over to him and had a guilty smile on his face.

"Look, I know I've been an asshole to you since the day I met you. It's not my place to bring harm to you in any way just because I harbored an unfair biased." John smiled and shook his head.

"Don't worry. I know why you did it. You didn't like that I'd taken Rebecca away. She was pretty much the mother figure in your house and I took away that stability for you. I probably would have done worse. I'll admit, that whole thing with dipping my underwear in meat was a major burn. It took a while, but I laughed about it." Jacob smiled.

"And I know that that's the reason you guys hardly ever visit." John shrugged.

"I value what I have down there, Jacob. What else can I say?" They both laughed a little and Jacob nodded.

"I would too. So are we cool?" John smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I think we are." Then John glanced at me, then back at Jacob. "And how old is she now? I thought she was eight the last time we were here." Jacob looked at me only for an instant and then shook his head.

"No. She was eleven. She's seventeen now." John nodded a little.

"I really hope this doesn't come out wrong and if I am wrong, feel free to punch me, but are you two……..together or something?" Jacob and I looked at each other a moment, then Jacob looked at John again.

"Yeah. We are." John nodded awkwardly.

"And…..how long has that been going on?" Jacob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's not what you think, John. There're a million factors to this whole thing that I don't think I should tell you." The I touched Jacob's arm.

"I already told Rebecca. I might as well tell him too." Jacob looked at me like I was nuts.

"Are you sure?" I nodded.

"I think it's the best way to go." John looked at us both looking confused.

"What am I missing." I looked at John, sighed, and held out my hand.

"Give me your hand for a second." John hesitated a moment, but he did finally take a hold of my hand. And when he did, I showed him everything that would hopefully make everything make sense. When everything was done, he looked at us both wide-eyed.

"Sweet mother…." Jacob jumped in.

"Like I said, there's a lot of factors to this. And normally, we would never tell you. Trust me, you're not in any danger with us or the Cullens. But we need this to be only between the family. I don't want to think of what would happen if anyone found out." John smiled without humor and shook his head.

"Don't worry, I won't say a word. No one would believe me anyway." I smiled a little and so did Jacob. "And you said you already told Rebecca about all this?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I showed it to her in the kitchen. She noticed I looked a lot older than what she thought I was." John nodded, still looking like he was trying to wrap his head around the whole idea.

"So you're really six years old but look like you could easily be in your twenties and you and Jacob have been together for three years now." Jacob and I both nodded. "Wow. Well, fuck me." We all laughed a little and John rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I wish you two the best. I really do. Rebecca and I better get going now." We nodded and walked towards the bike while John got in the car and he and Rebecca drove off.

Shortly after, Jacob and I got on the bike and made our way back to his place. When we got back, Jacob checked his mailbox before we went up and threw the mail on the kitchen counter and dropped his coat. I rolled my eyes and put it away for him before hanging my coat. Jacob went to the couch and took a seat and turned on the TV and started looking for something to watch. I walked over to Jacob and ran my hands over his chest and rested my cheek on the top of his head. Jacob groaned a little and rested one of his hands on mine.

"I'm so proud of you." Jacob smiled.

"I never thought I could ever be friends with that guy." I started kissing Jacob's neck and spoke between kisses.

"Aren't you glad I told you to be nice to him?" Jacob smiled and shrugged.

"I guess." I walked around the couch and took a seat on Jacob's lap. He held me tightly and kissed my neck. "I'm not sure we should've told him about us in so much detail though." I shook my head.

"Maybe not, but don't worry. If there was something wrong, daddy would have come out and fixed it." Jacob shrugged, but I didn't let him get concerned about it any further.

I kissed Jacob and made the kiss loving and passionate. It was the kiss that always made him forget what we'd been talking about and just get lost in it. Jacob lifted me up a little so I could scoot a little closer to him and be almost glued together. My arms wrapped around his neck and his hands roamed all over my back. One hand even wandered under my sweater and it made me shiver. I dipped my tongue in and out tongues met with a fierce passion. We trailed around each other's mouth and I sucked on his tongue a moment before he gently bit my top lip and sucked on that while I sucked and bit his bottom lip. After several minutes, I took my lips away from his and started kissing down his neck and sucking on his skin as I went. Jacob's hands squeezed my skin as I went down and one of his hands trailed under the back strap of my bra. I giggled when I felt that and I heard Jacob grin.

"I hate telling you this after yesterday, but we need to slow down." I shook my head and kept kissing his neck.

"I don't want to."

"I don't either. But now isn't the time. I promised we would wait." I lifted my head and looked at Jacob.

"Why are you so scared of daddy?" Jacob looked surprised and shook his head.

"I'm not scared of Edward. And he's only part of the reason." I sighed.

"Jacob, I'm on the pill. You have a .001% chance of getting me pregnant right now. Not really the best of odds."

"And sometimes that's all the chance it takes. There are plenty of people who still get pregnant on the pill. And if I do get you pregnant, I want us to at least be married first. And besides, I want to wait until our wedding night. I know it sounds corny, but I do. I want to wait until you're really my wife. Not my girlfriend, not my fiancé, my wife." I looked at Jacob a moment and I looked away and sighed.

"You see, that's a reason I can consider reasonable." Jacob grinned.

"So you won't keep doing underhanded things to get us to do it anymore?" I shrugged and shook my head.

"I didn't see you putting up this fight yesterday, but hey, I'll lay off." Jacob chuckled and kissed my cleavage.

"You woke me up and started making out with me while I was still half asleep. I was hardly thinking rationally. I would've fallen asleep as soon as we finished and I would've thought I dreamt the whole thing. I don't want our first time to be like that." I nodded and smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I know." Then Jacob reached up and kissed my chin.

"So you'll be nice and not push from now on?" I shrugged and nodded.

"Okay. You were nice to John tonight. I owe you one." Jacob smiled.

"Thanks, baby." I smiled and lowered my head to his and kissed him. "I love you Nessie." I smiled a silly smile and kissed his neck once more before resting my head on my nook and listening to the lullaby of Jacob's heartbeat.

"I love you too, Jacob. And I can't wait to be your wife."

"Neither can I, Nessie. Neither can I."


	18. Announcement

Hey guys,

Greenpeach here. I'm putting up this chapter to announce my upcoming new story. A name for this story has not yet been chosen, but as soon as I think of the perfect one, I will post it either in an announcement on horizon or on my home page. It's a story that I think readers will really like and give everyone an inside look at all the characters from my point of view while following Stephanie Meyer's original story as closely as possible. For example, I will take Carlisle and tell a story about his life as a human and how he became a vampire, and in his case, tell about how he coped with becoming a vampire. These are the characters I've already decided to do.

Carlisle

Esme (different, but fits into, You Kept My Heart Beating. That will be a prequel to the story I'll be writing for her)

Alice

Jasper

Edward (I don't see the point in doing one for Bella. If you disagree, feel free to say so and tell me why)

Rosalie

Emmett

Felix

Demetri

Heidi

Chelsea

Afton

Corin

Jane & Alec

Marcus (maybe. Not sure I'll do ones for Aro and Caius. I doubt it. But if you would like for me to make a story for the two of them, please let me know)

The Denalis (including Garrett, Carmen, and Eleazar)

Titus Valerius (possibly, haven't decided yet. I might not just 'cause he's an original character of mine, hence no one knows who he is unless they read And Her Tears Filled The Moon)

James, Laurent & Victoria (big, big, maybe)

If there's anyone I didn't list or may have forgotten that you would really like to see in this story, please let me know. The Story will be put in numerical order, meaning the oldest vampire down to the youngest vampires, or most of the Cullens, with the exception of Jasper and Carlisle. They're closer to the middle of the story.

I look forward to writing this story and I sincerely hope that my readers are looking forward to it. I will start writing it as soon as I finish writing The Volturi Menagerie. I'm almost done with that story. I anticipate there only being two chapters left of that story. Until then, please enjoy my current stories and let me know how much you love or hate them . Until then,

Greenpeach20


	19. Hell Shower

**Hell Shower**

A few weeks after thanksgiving when winter started rolling around, everyone all decided they wanted to have romantic little getaways. Emmett mentioned to Rosalie that he thought it would be nice to have a break and go to Africa, Alice thought that was a fantastic idea and told Jasper she wanted to go to Madrid, Spain. Momma decided she wanted to go to Phoenix because she wanted to see her old home and school for whatever reason and daddy made that their romantic getaway, and Carlisle simply wanted to get out of the house and take Esme to one of the Cullens many homes. I think he said he was taking her to the one near Niagara falls or something. That left me, Ryan, and Valerie alone.

Rosalie was reluctant to leave at first. She wasn't sure she trusted Ryan and Valerie alone. It had nothing to do with their well being. A two ton rock could fall on their heads and they'd be fine. I think Rosalie was more concerned with the idea of them possibly breaking something or getting in trouble while she and Emmett were away. There was a good reason Emmett had given Ryan Gremlin for a nickname. Ryan was a sweet and adorable boy, but he didn't always know when a little too far was when trying to keep himself entertained. He'd broken so many of Esme's things that Corin was practically on speed dial. It had gotten to the point that whenever he answered Esme's calls, the first words out of his mouth were, 'what did Ryan break this time?'. Octavia even suggested maybe she should start charging for every time she had to come to our place to undo something.

It took a lot of persuading, but Emmett was finally able to get Rosalie to agree to get away and let me and Jacob look after Ryan and Valerie. Billy and Jacob were going to be staying with us while everybody was gone. He was free all day thanks to his pension from his old job, so he said he could keep an eye on them. And Sue promised to come in everyday to check and see how things were going.

"Should I be scared that Rosalie told me not to let Ryan and Valerie in the kitchen without supervision?" I smiled and shook my head.

"No, it's okay. Rosalie just doesn't want them playing with kitchen knives again." Jacob's eyes widened.

"She let them play with kitchen knives and they didn't get hurt?" I shook my head.

"It wasn't them that got hurt." I walked over to the couch and pulled up the blanket that was draped over the arm and showed Jacob the giant cut in the arm of the white leather couch. His eyes widened again. "I think Rosalie's more concerned about the furniture."

"Is Octavia coming to fix it?" I shook my head.

"No. Esme decided not to bother. She's just going to get some new furniture sets." Jacob nodded awkwardly and shrugged.

"When you have money coming out your ass, I suppose that's okay." I giggled and shook my head.

"Are you saying you would keep a couch that's been butchered?" Jacob shrugged.

"We would've just sewed it up and covered it with a blanket. Good as new." I smiled at him.

"Innovative." Jacob grinned.

"I was raised to save." I smiled and hugged him. Billy came out of the kitchen and saw us.

"By the way, Nessie." I looked at Billy while still hugging Jacob.

"Yeah, Billy?"

"Do Ryan and Valerie have any hidden powers that I should know about before I agree to watch them?" I shook my head.

"You already agreed. But don't worry, they're normal. No hidden powers. Just think of how you had handled Jacob when he was little." Billy got a strange grin on his face.

"Jacob's mother used to say if you can raise Jacob, you can raise anyone. Granted Jacob wasn't a half breed vampire, but I doubt those two can hit me with anything I've never dealt with before." Jacob gave Billy a mean look.

"I wasn't hard to raise." Billy rolled his eyes.

"Please. You were the devil child. I love you to death, Jacob, but for most of your childhood you were a pain in the ass. You're the only child in the history of the world that has ever disappeared for four days at a time, worrying me to death, then coming home covered in dirt and seaweed saying you needed a flashlight." Jacob shrugged.

"Sam's dad said there was treasure and I was looking for it." I giggled and shook my head. Billy shook his head too.

"It's Sam's dad, Jacob. This is the man that also tried to tell you the sky was green one day when he was drunk." Jacob shrugged.

"I was a little kid and I wanted to find buried treasure." I smiled and nuzzled Jacob's chest.

"Did you ever find that buried treasure?" Jacob shook his head.

"I didn't get a chance to finish looking. When I came back home for a flashlight, Billy was a hair away from beating me with it." I looked over at Billy, then at Jacob.

"I still have a hard time believing that Billy would ever hit you." Billy and Jacob laughed and Billy rolled over to us and patted my back.

"Oh Nessie, don't let my calm demeanor fool you. I can be a real son of a bitch when I'm mad enough. And when Jacob took off to find buried treasure and dared to come back after four days asking for a flashlight, I'd just about lost it. I had the whole village out looking for him."

"Well that's different. You were worried." Billy shrugged.

"I was worried about him until he got home. When he came back, I was only mad at him. He never went looking for that treasure again, that's for sure." Jacob gave Billy a mean look.

"And if there was actually a treasure, I'll never know." Billy chuckled and shook his head.

"Remember your source of information, Jacob. That alone tells you that it wasn't real."

"I was eight and stupid, dad. Let it go."

"That's not even the worst thing you've ever done. The whole tree landing on your friend's garage incident immediately comes to mind. Then there's all those mean pranks you've played on John and the many dolls of your sisters that you've cruelly ruined."

"It wasn't cruelly, dad. Rachael had been picking on me so I retaliated." Billy rolled his eyes.

"I know. She wasn't happy to find two of her barbies being backed in a 450 degree oven and four others blown to smithereens. I still can't believe you got a hold of those cherry bombs."

"Whatever. That's what Rachael gets for picking on me." I looked up at Jacob and gave him a stern look.

"That's no way to treat your sisters." Jacob looked at me like he was lecturing a child, but he did so teasingly.

"Nessie, you're an only child. You wouldn't understand the dynamics of sibling love-hate relationships. Look at Valerie and Ryan. Most of the time, those two just annoy each other. But even so, they're thick as thieves. That's how siblings are." I shrugged.

"I can't say I envy people with siblings. It must suck having to share your parent's affection." Jacob chuckled and hugged me tightly.

"They love their kids all the same, Nessie. It's more the fact that you have to share everything else, like rooms and clothes. One time, dad didn't want to go all the way to Port Angeles to get me new clothes that I'd grown out of so I had to wear my sister's clothes on my first day of school." I looked up at Jacob with a humored smile, and Jacob looked angry. "It was a pink shirt with a big sun on it. And the pants had bad detailing."

"Oh, stop being such a baby, Jacob. I think the pink suited you." Jacob glared at Billy.

"An expert on fashion are we?" I giggled and reached up to kiss Jacob's chin.

"I'm sure you looked handsome." Jacob looked at me with the same look on his face.

"Don't mock me." I shook my head and kissed his neck.

"I'm not." Jacob finally smiled and kissed the top of my head. I was taken by surprise when I heard Ryan talking to me. He was suddenly behind me.

"As nice as it is that you two get along so well, please don't get along in my living room." I looked at Ryan with a stern face.

"This isn't your living room, it's Carlisle and Esme's living room. And I live here too, so if I want to kiss Jacob in here, then I have every right to."

"Not when your cousins are standing right here watching you." Valerie, who was standing next to him, looked at Ryan with a blank stare.

"I don't mind." Ryan looked over his shoulder at Valerie and glared.

"You're not helping, Valerie." Valerie smiled innocently in a way that was patronizing.

"Sorry. I didn't know I should be." Ryan and Valerie looked at each other without saying anything. Jacob smiled and rested his head on mine.

"See what I mean about that love-hate relationship?" I smiled back.

"I'm glad I'm an only child." Jacob chuckled and let go of me.

"Yeah, Nessie. I'm sure you are."

As Sue promised, she was at the house everyday to help Billy out. As Billy suspected, taking care of Ryan and Valerie was like taking care of Jacob when he was little. They may be little devils, but if you know how to bluff and how to talk to them, they're relatively easy to manage. Momma and daddy were gone for two weeks and when they came back, Billy had them singing the national anthem on command. When Rosalie and Emmett got back, Rosalie was impressed and Emmett just thought it was funny. Everyone was back for Christmas and we had plenty of family over for the holiday. The Denalis came to visit us and Siobhan and her coven even sent gifts to us. Alice already knew about it and had sent gifts to them as well. When I came back to school after winter break, I went to the cafeteria and took my seat like normal. But when I sat down, Madison had a huge grin on her face. Aida was sitting next to me, and for reasons I can't fathom, was paying attention to Madison and all the others.

"Oh Nessie, I can't believe it." I gave Madison a weird look.

"What are you talking about? What did I do?"

"Oh, come one silly, you can tell me." Aida cleared her throat.

"Nessie doesn't want to talk about things she doesn't know about. Stop babbling." Madison got mad and glared at Aida.

"I wasn't talking to you, Aida. Why do you always have to butt into other people's conversations?" Aida shrugged indifferently.

"It's what I do. Besides, if Nessie doesn't know what you're talking about, drop it."

"I said I wasn't talking to you, Aida." Then Madison looked at me again. "Anyway, Nessie, you can't tell me you don't know that you're getting…." Before Madison could finish, Aida threw my orange at her face, getting her attention immediately. "What did you do that for?!"

"I hate oranges." Madison looked defensive suddenly.

"You're probably just pissed because she didn't make you a bridesmaid." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Please, I'm the maid of honor." Madison's eyes widened, then she looked at me. And when I looked at Aida, she started hitting her head gently on the table over and over again mumbling 'I'm so fucking stupid' as she did so.

"What do you mean you're the maid of honor?!" I waved at Madison to get her attention.

"What are you guys talking about? I never said anything about making anyone maids. I didn't even know anyone was getting married." Madison gave me a weird look then.

"You don't know?" I shrugged.

"What should I know?" Again, Aida threw some produce at Madison before she could say a word.

"Stop doing that!"

"I told you that you talk too much. You need to learn when to stop talking when people aren't interested." Madison glared even more.

"Like you're one to talk. All you ever do is bitch and moan. You're such a complainer."

"My god doesn't approve of happiness."

"Crazy bitch." Kevin mumbled under his breath. I think Aida heard him, but chose to ignore him. I only shook my head in my hands for a moment while they argued. Eventually, I swatted both of them with my hands and they looked at me stunned, and in the calmest voice I could manage, I said my piece.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, Madison. Obviously, Aida knows the same thing as you and feels it would be better that I not be in on what's going on. Just this once, listen to her and change the subject."

"I told her to shut up." I sighed.

"Shut your face Aida." She looked at me surprised.

"What?"

"I said, shut your face." Instead of getting offended, Aida smiled to herself and stayed quiet. "Let's just drop it and change the subject." Madison looked at me a moment with surprise, then shrugged and got back to her food and started talking. Then, Mackenzie came to the table with a big smile.

"Nessie, why didn't you tell me you were engaged?" I looked up in surprise and Aida started banging her head against the table again.

"I'm not engaged." Mackenzie and everyone else at my table looked surprised.

"You're not engaged?" I shook my head.

"I don't recall anyone asking to marry me." Madison took something out of her backpack and showed it to me.

"Then why did we get these in the mail?" I looked at what Madison put in front of me. It was a little white invitation that had the words, 'You're invited', on the front. I could feel my heart stopping. The way this invitation was made, white with gold letters, had Alice's taste written all over it. I opened the card and looked at the contents. Inside, it said 'Union of Jacob William Black and Renesmee Carlie Cullen' and listed the important information. The only thing that wasn't written was the date of the wedding itself. It only said 'to be announced'. "Nessie?"

I was frozen were I was. Jacob had never said anything. We've always talked about getting married, but he hadn't been talking about it like he was getting ready to ask me soon. He always talked about it like it was in the far future, which we'd already said would happen. I always thought we would wait until I was out of college. This seemed so sudden. I would marry Jacob wherever and whenever. I just couldn't believe he hadn't said anything. It wasn't like Jacob to do something like this. He would never start planning for something that he wasn't sure would actually happen. He always liked to wait until things were certain. That little trait about him was a pain when he was picking out apartments. But the more I looked at the invitation, it became obvious that he wasn't. Alice was the type that would get ahead of herself. She had to have done this without telling Jacob. Though I was shocked, it explained why Jacob looked so determined to keep me away from his closet, then the kitchen drawer, and now the drawer to his nightstand. He didn't want me to find the ring.

"Nessie, are you okay?" Madison took me out of my trance and I looked at her. "Oh my god, Nessie you're crying!!"

"I am?" I reached up and touched my face and realized I was. I hadn't even noticed. Aida took a hold of my hand and pulled me with her out of the cafeteria. She pulled me with her into the school parking lot and to her car where she pushed me into the back seat and took a seat next to me.

"Are you okay?" I didn't answer at first. I was still in shock. Knowing Jacob, he would want me to be surprised. I felt awful because that was ruined. "Nessie, are you okay?" I finally looked at her.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just surprised is all." Aida nodded.

"I know." I smiled halfheartedly at her.

"You already knew didn't you?" Aida gave me a guilty smile, though it was still more like a line, and nodded.

"Yeah. He decided at Jessica and Mike's wedding that he was going to propose sooner."

"Why did he tell you?" Aida shrugged.

"I called him sugar tits, remember." I smiled and shook my head at her.

"You're lucky he didn't eat you." Aida and I laughed a little before we went silent. We were quiet for a long time before I spoke again. "It was Alice's idea to send out the invitations so early, right?" Aida nodded.

"Yeah, it was. I don't know Jacob very well, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would have the balls to do something like that." I gave Aida a mean look.

"Don't say things like that. That's my fiancé you're talking about." Aida smiled and patted my back.

"So you're going to say yes?" I nodded.

"Of course." I started whipping away the tears. "I'm sorry. I'm just so happy." Aida smiled and patted my back.

"I know you are."

"So when was he planning to propose?" Aida shook her head.

"The surprise has been ruined enough for you. I won't tell you when he plans to. Let the suspense drive you mad."

"Oh come on, Aida. I'll act as if I never knew." Aida shook her head.

"You know just as well as I do that you can't promise that. If I tell you when he plans to propose, you'll expect it and ruin it, or if he doesn't propose, you'll be pissed. I'm not telling you." I sighed and started crying again. Aida rubbed my back trying to calm me. I could tell this was something she wasn't used to doing and would only ever do for me.

"Who am I kidding? Daddy's going to tell Jacob that I know and it'll ruin everything. I'll really have to wait until I get out of college before I get to marry him. I don't want to wait that long. Not now that I know he wants to get married so soon." Aida kept rubbing my back trying to be soothing.

"Don't worry, he's still going to ask. It might not happen the way he planned, but believe me, it will happen. When he told me about it, he was dead set on getting married before you go off to college. 'He doesn't want to wait any longer for you to be his wife' are his exact words. You're hearing it from a reliable source." I smiled a little.

"You really think so?" Aida nodded.

"I know so, Nessie. He's too desperate to bang you to wait." I laughed at last and gently hit her arm.

"Normally I'd tell you to shut up." Aida smiled and reached up to the front of her car to get something out of the compartment in front of the passenger's seat. When she was sitting back next to me, she was holding a Trojan and I just laughed.

"Here's hoping, Nessie." I laughed a little longer and shook my head at her before taking the condom.

"So this is like a good luck condom or something?" Aida smirked and nodded.

"You could definitely say that." I looked at the condom a minute looking for expiration dates and what type it was. It was one of those ultra thin condoms that supposedly felt like they weren't even there.

"Does it really feel like it's not there?" Aida smirked and nodded.

"Oh yeah. And if you use that condom and combine it with that KY Hers and His Lubricants, its fucking mind blowing. I swear to hell that whenever we do that, it's like my vagina is literally exploding and I love every fucking minute of it. And afterwards, neither of us can move or even flinch for a good twenty minutes. That's how good, no, that's how great it is. I'll be sure to get you some of that KY His and Hers lubricants before you and Jacob go on you honeymoon. Trust me, Nessie, you're going to thank me for it." I sighed.

"I don't think Jacob and I should use that kind of stuff the first time. Besides, I'm in the pill. I don't need a condom." Aida shook her head.

"You do if you want to avoid one of those .001% babies. Those little bastards sneak up on you."

"I wouldn't mind."

"Yeah you would. And I'm not just saying that because I hate kids, I'm saying this because you shouldn't throw your life away to have kids. And I know for a fact that Jacob feels the same way because you told me so." I sighed.

"I guess I have." I sighed and rubbed my face trying to stop crying. When I was finally done, I looked up at Aida and tried smiling again. "So you really think I'll still be married before I get to college?" Aida nodded.

"Abso-fuckin-lutely." I smiled at Aida's rare enthusiasm and dared to reach over and hug her. To my surprise, she didn't push me away.

"Thanks Aida."

"Just so you know, aside from Zeppelin and my sister, I never let people hug me, so feel honored." I laughed to myself and nodded.

"I do, Aida." Aida gave me one of her rare and unlikely smiles and hugged me tighter. Then I heard the bell ring to end the lunch period.

"Come on. Let's ditch the rest of the day and go do something fun, like hunt for ghosts." I smiled and shook my head.

"We need to go to class, Aida." Aida looked mad, but she didn't argue and we went to the gym where our next class was and started changing with everyone else.

When we got into the gym, Madison ran over to me and was about to ask if I was okay, but I think Aida gave her a look that made her back away. I was grateful for it. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone about this, especially when I had no idea what the details were regarding the situation. And I was sure to take out any frustration I still had out on four volleyballs. I ended up spiking those four and busting the air out of all four. Eventually, Coach Clapp just asked me to sit out for the rest of gym and handed me a piece of paper at the end of gym telling me how much money I owed the school for the busted volleyballs. As Aida and I got dressed, Aida was laughing under her breath about my tab.

"I can't believe they're making you pay for them." I shrugged.

"It's not surprising. I mean, I busted four beyond repair. That's four more than the school can afford."

"What will your dad say?"

"He'll tell me to be more careful next time and send me to school with a check for $37.50 and that'll be the end of that." This time, Aida laughed without humor.

"Seriously? My dad would yell at me, ground me and make me pay for it myself." I shrugged.

"Daddy's a little more sympathetic. Sometimes these things can't be helped."

"Oh yeah, Nessie. This sort of stuff happens to teenagers all the time. It's common for a teenager to bust the air out of a ball with their bare hands." I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm.

"Laugh all you want, Aida. I'm half vampire, so these little exertions of inhuman strength are expected. Daddy's aware of that and doesn't overreact to it."

"Whatever daddy's girl." I smiled proudly.

"Daddy's girl to the bone, Aida." She smiled a little and we walked to the parking lot together and parted ways to go to our cars. When I got home and walked into the house, daddy was already waiting for me at the door. I smiled sweetly and with a little guilt and handed him the sheet of paper. He sighed and shook his head with a small smile.

"I understand if you were upset, honey. Just remember not to bring it out on school equipment anymore, okay?" I nodded.

"Yes, daddy." Daddy smiled and patted my head before walking over to Carlisle to get a check and filling it out for me. Then he handed it to me and I put it in my backpack ready to be brought to school.

I was surprised that daddy didn't say anything about my discovery today. I figured he would at least bring it up just to tell me to pretend it never happened or something along those lines, but he didn't say a word. It took me by surprise. It bothered me immensely, but I wondered if maybe it was best that he wasn't saying anything about it and decided to let it go and not try to talk about it.

"Daddy?" Daddy turned around to face me. He heard the thoughts I was directly telling him, being that I was going to the cottage to get some homework done.

"Sure honey. Your mother and I will be there later." I smiled and went over to hug him then found momma and hugged her before I left for the cottage.

**JPOV**

After I opened the door to my apartment, I rested against the door to close it and groaned. It'd been a rough day at work. Some girl had totaled her car because she was texting while she was driving. She didn't need to give me any more details about the accident for me to know exactly what happened. But she wanted us to repair her car from being totaled, which wasn't easy, especially in its condition. The entire right side of her car was scrapped off and her engine was crushed from what could only be a direct impact. I hated working with people that acted all innocent even though the whole accident was their fault. And figures she thought I was cute and spent most of the consultation trying to flirt with me. It was people like that who made me hate my job.

"Your day's about to get worse I'm afraid." My eyes shot open and I saw Edward leaning against my couch facing me. I tried to breathe to slow my heart rate.

"When did you get here?"

"About ten minutes ago. A came over as soon as Nessie went back to the cottage." I became worried.

"Is something wrong with Nessie? What happened? Why didn't you guys call me?" Edward shook his head.

"She's fine, Jacob. Ecstatic even." I looked at Jacob confused.

"What are you talking about?" Edward sighed an unneeded breath before answering me.

"She found out."

"She found out what?" Edward stood up straight.

"Nessie's friends got their invitations to the wedding." My eyes widened and I felt my blood boil. This was why I told Alice not to send out the invitations yet. "I know, Jacob. Aida tried to get everyone not to talk about it, but Mackenzie got to the table late and blurted it out."

"So she already knows I'm proposing. Great. This is just great. I wanted this to be nice and romantic. I had it all planned out. What am I going to do now? She's expecting it. That takes all the surprise out of it."

"Jacob, calm down. Aida refused to tell Nessie when you were planning to propose. She doesn't know when you're doing it."

"Who cares?! She knows its happening. That's as bad as flat out telling her. It doesn't matter what happens, she'll know when I'm proposing." I sighed and fell to the floor. I was furious. I wanted this to be special and now it was ruined.

"Stop worrying about it, Jacob. I know this isn't a good turn of events, but no matter what you do, she'll be happy. At least you know she'll say yes."

I held my head in my hands and kept shaking my head trying to will this to not be happening. The headache that I already had was only getting worse.

"She hasn't seen the ring or anything right?" Edward nodded.

"Yeah, she hasn't seen it. She just knows you'll be proposing soon." I sighed heavily. "Don't worry about trying to find a different hiding spot. Now that she knows what's going on, she's not going to try and figure out what you're hiding or go looking for it. She's trying to forget about today and pretend she never knew about it. I doubt that will work very well, but she is trying."

"It's better than nothing I guess." Edward nodded.

"Exactly. I suggest you act no different than usual. Pretend this conversation never happened same as what she's doing. And don't worry. It will have just as much magic as ever. No matter what happens or how you do it, you'll make her happy and that's all that matters." I nodded a little.

"I'm not proposing during the graduation party, that's for sure." I looked at Edward and he smiled a little.

"I won't tell a soul about this change of plans." I smiled wider.

"Thanks Edward. I can't wait until you're my father in law." Edward chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm sure Bella feels the same way." I shook my head.

"I'll never be able to think of Bella like a mother in law. She'll always be one of my best friends."

"Best friend or not, she'll be your mother in law. She when she tells you to do something, you do it the same way you would for your own mother." I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"Whatever you say Edward." We were quiet a moment before I said anything again. Edward had an answer for me the moment I thought it.

"Don't worry about it Jacob. Act like nothing's changed. Propose to her when the time is right and everything else will fall into place. I promise."

"I can't promise I won't worry about it, but I can promise that I'll do my best to pretend she doesn't know." Edward smiled.

"Good. That's all I wanted to talk about Jacob." I sighed.

"Whatever, Edward. As long as you keep your promise not to tell anyone, I'm cool."

"I won't tell anyone. Not even Bella." I smiled then.

"Good." I stood and got out of Edward's way as he walked to the door. Before he closed the door behind him, he looked at me.

"By the way, Jacob."

"Yeah?"

"You do remember that Mrs. Stanley's baby shower is this weekend, right?" He had my answer the moment he heard my thoughts. He wouldn't even need to read my thoughts. All he'd have to do is look at the blank, annoyed stare on my face. "Now that you remember, be sure to get something for her. I know you don't want to go and I don't blame you. But Nessie wants you to go. And as husbandly advice to you, your wife is always right. If she tells you to do something, you do it. Your life will be much happier that way." I nodded.

"Okay. So basically, do the same thing I've been doing since Nessie was a baby." Edward grinned at my joke and nodded.

"Exactly. It's a harsh truth, but in a loving marriage, there's no room for a back bone." I laughed a little as Edward closed the door and walked out of the apartment building and drove back home.

I groaned a little to myself not being able to help but think about what happened. I was still furious. But at least I had the new plan in my head and ready. Even if she was expecting it, it would be romantic and she would never forget it. And neither would all the witnesses that would be there when it happened. I don't care if anyone knows anymore. It astounded me that I didn't, but it was true. Before, I never wanted people to know because they would consider it wrong. But now that seemed so trivial and something not worth worrying about. And if Edward had a problem with it, he would have said something. I smiled to myself proudly at the new plan. It was better than what I had originally planned to do. And I would make sure she never forgot it.

I was taken by surprise when I felt my butt start to vibrate. I realized it was my cell phone and took it out to look at the caller ID. It was Nessie. I took a deep breath that made me take a lot longer to answer the phone than what I normally took. When I finally answered the phone, I tried my best to sound normal.

"_Hey, Jacob. How was work?"_

"Okay, I guess. It wasn't one of my better days."

"_That's a shame. Why's that?"_

"Some girl totaled her car virtually beyond repair and she expects us to repair it even though I explained to her that it would be a lot cheaper to just get a new car. And she was trying to flirt with me the whole time I was talking to her about her demolished car." When Nessie responded, her voice was mad.

"_Flirting with you, huh? I hope you charged her extra for being rude."_ I chuckled.

"I didn't give her the discount she asked me for. I can't raise a price because she's hitting on me, but I can refuse to give her a discount that she shouldn't be able to get regardless." I heard the smile in Nessie's voice.

"_Good. She got what she deserved."_ I laughed.

"No kidding. She got into the accident in the first place because she'd been texting while she was driving." Nessie sighed.

"_Please say you're joking."_ I shook my head.

"I wish I was. A cop escorted her to the shop after interrogating her for three hours. And I don't know why she's so determined to get her car fixed so fast. Her license was suspended for three months." Nessie giggled.

"_I love it when people get their just desserts."_ I smiled.

"You're only saying that because she hit on me."

"_What's your point?"_ I started laughing and Nessie joined me in my laughter. We laughed together for several minutes before we started breathing to calm down. _"I'm allowed to get mad at people who hit on you." _I chuckled.

"Same here." We laughed lightly together again. When our laughter stopped, I smiled to myself. "I love you, Renesmee." I could feel her smiling.

"_I love you too Jacob. And keep remembering how much you love me while we're at the baby shower this weekend."_ And I lost my smile and sighed.

"Alright, Nessie. What did you get her?"

"_I got her one of those Diaper dispenser things. Babies need diapers, right_?" I laughed at Nessie's joke and nodded.

"That's what I've heard."

"_What about you? Did you get her anything?"_

"No. I was kind of hoping I could sign your gift too." Nessie giggled.

"_Sure, no problem. Just remember to sign the card before we leave Saturday."_

"Alright, I'll remember. Just out of curiosity, what is Aida getting her, do you know?"

"_No. I was scared to ask truthfully."_

"Maybe she got her a burning pyre so the mother could sacrifice her child or something." Nessie and I laughed a little.

"_It's something she'd do. She does hate kids. I think she hates this kid even more because it's her half sibling and knows it."_

"I don't blame her for being mad about all this. I would expect something like this from teenagers, but not from responsible adults."

"_The affair alone was irresponsible if you ask me. Getting pregnant only made the irresponsibility worse."_

"I can't believe we're the only ones that know about the…affair." Nessie laughed a little as she smiled.

"_That's life I guess. Mrs. Stanley's too proud to ever get caught."_

"Like mother like daughter I suppose. What little I knew about Jessica was that she loved talking. She doesn't really care if you're interested in what she's saying, she talks anyway. It was annoying. Lauren wasn't much better. Bella was a lot quieter and she wasn't obnoxious like the others. I always appreciated that."

"_I know I'm not as quiet as momma."_ I noticed Nessie's voice and was quick to fix my mistake.

"It doesn't matter, Nessie. I could talk to you all day and I'd never get bored with it." I heard Nessie smile.

"_That's so sweet."_ I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I do what I can, Nessie." I heard something on the other line, then heard Nessie again.

"_I better get to bed. You get to bed too. You need the sleep. Especially if you're needed to work on a hopeless car tomorrow."_ I smiled.

"No car is hopeless in my hands." Nessie giggled.

"_Maybe a few should be depending on the costumer."_ We laughed a little together before Nessie spoke again. _"Good night, Jacob. I love you."_

"I love you too, Renesmee." When we hung up our phones, I took a deep breath. It was the first time I'd ever had a hard time talking to her. I had to force myself to stay normal. I was proud of myself for doing it so well.

Once I felt relaxed, I went to my room and took a shower to help calm my nerves. It helped a little, but it wasn't enough at the moment. I went to bed as soon as I was done with my shower and I'd had something small to eat. Then I plopped into bed feeling beat. When I woke up the next morning, my alarm clock was going off and it startled me. But I forced myself out of bed and got ready for work.

**NPOV**

For the rest of the week, Aida was kind enough to keep people from asking me anything about Jacob or the engagement that I hadn't known about. What scared me was that I didn't care what methods Aida used as long as they worked. Eventually, everyone stopped asking questions all together, which was a big relief. The Friday before the baby shower, I went to Aida's house for a few hours and we spent a few hours talking and listening to her music.

"By the way, what did you get Mrs. Stanley for a present?" Aida shrugged.

"Condoms." I smiled.

"Seriously, what did you get her?" Aida shrugged again.

"Condoms. They're the free pie condoms from the nurse's office."

"You're getting the mother to be condoms?" She nodded.

"It seems appropriate considering the circumstances of her pregnancy. It's my way of telling her to never get pregnant again."

"How inappropriate." Aida smiled a little.

"That's how I role. So what are you and Jacob getting her?"

"A diaper dispenser thing." Aida shuttered.

"Gross. I'm glad I'm never having kids." I shrugged.

"You never know, it could happen. Sometimes even condoms and birth control aren't enough to stop it from happening. Especially when you take into account how often you claim that you and Zeppelin sleep together." Aida shook her head.

"Never. I don't want kids. They're annoying little monsters and I say they ruin relationships. And think about it, Nessie. I've had alcohol and nicotine pumping through my body for years as well as my fair share of a few drugs. If Zeppelin and I had a baby it would probably be born with fins or some shit like that." I giggled.

"At least you'd have something to brag about when your kid joins the Forks swim team." Aida and I laughed a little and Aida got up and arranged her CD player so that we started listening to Cobra Starship. "I didn't know you liked this band." Aida shrugged.

"They aren't my favorite, but they're cool. They're nowhere near the caliber of Korn or Slipknot, but they're still good. Church of Hot Addiction's one of my favorite songs. That and Teardrops on my Guitar believe it or not." My eyes widened.

"You like Taylor Swift?" She nodded.

"It's catchy. Besides, some of her songs are really sweet, like that one. Picture to Burn's a fun song too."

"I never took you for a Taylor Swift fan. She's so cheerful." Aida laughed.

"Not always. Picture to Burn is pretty damn evil." We laughed together a moment while Aida played around with her CD player a little longer until she found that song. We listened to it a moment, then Aida grinned. "See. You're just another picture to burn. Pretty cruel." I shrugged.

"Yeah, but this guy cheated on her. Women react that way to break ups sometimes." She shrugged.

"True." We were quiet for moment before Aida spoke again. "I'm sorry to bring this up, but I'm curious. Did you have any hand at all in picking your bridesmaids?" I shook my head.

"None at all. Except maybe a little when Alice asked me how much I liked each of my friends. But I don't disagree with Alice's decision to make you my maid of honor." Aida laughed without humor.

"As long as your aunt doesn't put me in pink." I shook my head.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't allow it. You'd be holding pink flowers at worst. Though I might have the bridesmaids hold black flowers, just for you. And if I have anything to say about it, you and the others are wearing red. No if ands or butts from Alice." Aida grinned.

"Red dress with black flowers. I love how you think Nessie."

"I thought you'd like that." After a few hours, I went home being sure to avoid her mom so she wouldn't ask me to stay for dinner. Jacob wasn't at the house like I'd been hoping for. I hadn't seen Jacob in days. It was beginning to worry me. I would call him, but it felt like our conversations were different. It was probably my fault.

I went to sleep that night after lying in bed for hours trying not to think about the proposal I wasn't supposed to know about. I hated pretending I didn't know. And I was sure that daddy told Jacob about it by now. That was probably why he wasn't coming to the house at all. When I finally did go to sleep, it wasn't in the best mind set and I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. But when I woke, I smelled Jacob's woodsy scent and my eyes shot open to see him lying next to me in bed above my covers. He was smiling at me and I smiled back.

"Morning, Nessie." I smiled and turned on my side so I was facing him.

"Morning. When did you get here?"

"About an hour ago. I wanted to be here and ready to go but you were still asleep, so I didn't wake you." I smiled and looked over my shoulder at my clock and my eyes widened and I started rushing out of bed to get ready.

"Aw man, we're going to be late. Aida's going to be pissed at me. You should have woken me." Jacob smiled in guilt.

"Sorry, Nessie. Would be angrier at me if I admitted that I was sort of banking on us being late?"

"Yes, Jacob, that would make me angrier." I finished in the bathroom as fast as I could and didn't bother washing my hair this morning. When I was done, I went back to my room and rummaged through my closet looking for something nice to wear. "But thank you for dressing nice." Jacob shrugged.

"I knew you wanted me to." Jacob was still wearing dark wash blue jeans, but it was with a white dress shirt and a belt, which I rarely ever saw him wear. I settled on jeans and a blue turtleneck sweater. I wore all my necklaces outside of my sweater and had both bracelets above the sleeve so they were visible on my left wrist. "Where's the gift? I still need to sign the card."

"It's at the house. You can sign it before we leave."

"Okay." When I was dressed, I went to my vanity and put on some makeup and fluffed my hair until it was arranged in a way that I liked. "I don't know why you bother with makeup. You don't need it." I smiled at him in my vanity mirror.

"Makeup makes a woman prettier. I like drawing attention to my eyes." Jacob chuckled.

"Your eyes do that all by themselves. And you've already got long lashes." When I had on my eye liner and mascara, I looked over at Jacob and started walking over to him and hugged him when I was close enough.

"I just like adding more attention. Besides, I usually only do mascara and eye liner and lip gloss." Jacob shook his head gently.

"You don't need it." I smiled and rubbed my nose against his before kissing him.

"You're going to give me a big head, you know that?" Jacob just smiled and kissed me again. Alice had recently cut his hair again, so it was short and slightly spiked naturally. It was nice to run my fingers through it.

Jacob's hands stayed at my waist and he squeezed me affectionately a few times while my hands stayed threaded through his short hair. Our kiss stayed innocent. We just moved our lips together and I sucked on his top lip for a moment before changing the angle of the kiss. We kissed for two minutes before I took my lips away and kissed his nose.

"We better get going. We're going to be late." Jacob smiled.

"I was hoping that would be the case." I gently smacked Jacob's cheek and we laughed together a moment while we walked out of the cottage and started walking to the house where my car was. Before we left, we went in and Jacob sighed the card and sealed it for me while momma wished for me to have fun.

"You know, momma, it's not too late to go with me and Jacob." Momma smiled and shook her head.

"I'd rather not. Jessica and I were never really friends and I don't think I've ever met her mother. It would be strange for me to go. It's strange enough that you're going." I shrugged.

"I know. Aida asked me to come to help save her from evil baby's mamas. That's the only reason I'm going."

"And I'm going because Nessie said so." Momma and I laughed at Jacob's joke and I nodded.

"That's right, Jacob, because I said so." Jacob smiled and laughed under his breath.

We finally left the house once Jacob had the card sealed and carried it to the car and put it in the back seat before getting in next to me. Normally, Jacob would drive, but I knew where it was, Jacob didn't, so it made more sense for me to drive. The house was hard to miss regardless. There were balloons and garlands surrounding the front door that was left open and there was a big stork on the front lawn announcing that it was a girl. Once again, it seemed silly to get that seeing as she was still pregnant, but that wasn't something I would say out loud. Jacob and I walked in and I saw several women, most of whom I didn't know, that were sitting together or standing near the food talking. When Aida saw me, her face was relieved and she came over to me.

"Holy fuck, you're here. You're fucking late."

"I know. I over slept." Aida sneered at the wall.

"I tried doing that. Mom forced me out of bed." I smiled.

"Where's your mom and Coralline?"

"Who the fuck knows? They're somewhere. Coralline's avoiding these baby's mamas as best she can."

"Does she hate kids too?" Aida shook her head.

"No. She likes kids. She just doesn't like most of the women here. I swear, all they talk about are their fucking kids and how great they are. One woman here has a son that's twenty four and he's having girl problems. And, of course, it's all those girls' fault because her son's a fucking god." I nodded awkwardly.

"What are the chances that guy will ever find a woman that will make him happy?"

"None if he can't find a woman that thinks of him as a god like his mother does. And there's a woman here who'd gone to medical school but she never got her degree because she fucking got knocked up. What's worse, she married a total prick because of that shit of a situation and she doesn't regret a fucking thing."

"You're swearing a lot today. More than usual."

"I know. I hate it here. I hate babies, I hate obsessive mothers with babies, I hate old hags that have my dad's baby and now I have some bastard child coming along that'll unknowingly be my half sibling that I'll hate." I shrugged.

"You could always trade it for a puppy." Aida looked at me weird for a moment. But then she understood the joke and smirked a little before going back to her previous scowl.

"I'm not that lucky. I'm just praying that baby chokes on the placenta and dies." I felt Jacob shutter behind me.

"You pray?" I smiled a little at Jacob's question, but Aida stayed serious.

"To Satan. He needs his praise too." I looked at Jacob and he looked like he was in pain at the moment. Finally, he nodded awkwardly and patted my back.

"I'm going to see if this baby's mama has any liquor she's willing to let me drink." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"Why are you drinking?" Jacob sighed.

"Because Nessie. I'm stuck here with a bunch of women I don't know and a satanic raving lunatic. If I have to stay here for a long period of time, I'm getting buzzed. That's the only way I'll last here."

"You have me."

"I know, Nessie. But alcohol does something you don't." I raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Aida answered for Jacob.

"It gets him fucked up enough that he doesn't care what the fuck's going on." Jacob glanced at Aida, then back at me.

"I wouldn't have put it made it quite as colorfully, but yeah, what she said." I sighed.

"Fine. But if I have to end up babysitting you, then you'll have hell to pay when you're sober again. You better be able to walk in a straight line by the time we leave." Jacob nodded.

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'm a big guy, I have a high tolerance. I'll just be buzzed." I sighed again.

"You better." Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek before walking over to Mrs. Stanley and introducing himself as a guest before asking if she minded if he helps himself to any beer she had. Thankfully, her husband was at home and was having one himself, so it was okay.

"I guess we won't be seeing him for the rest of the party." I sighed.

"I didn't bring him with me to get drunk. I brought him here so I'd have someone to talk to." Aida made herself look offended.

"What the fuck's wrong with me?" I shrugged.

"You're more pissed off than usual right now. You're not always the best person to talk to when you're like that. You swear a lot more and you start babbling about Satan. It's kind of freaky."

"Bitches can't handle me, that's too damn bad. Mom made me come, so she can deal with the consequences."

"Why is your mom even here? Mrs. Stanley's having her husband's child." Aida shrugged.

"Who the fuck know. Maybe to say she's alright and not mad about it. My parent's love life is so fucked up."

"I won't argue with you there. How are your parents able to have outside lovers and still have a healthy marriage?"

"I never said they have a healthy marriage. They have an active fuck life, and that's about it. They got divorced for a reason and that reason was because they cheated on each other. I don't understand why they bothered getting remarried, but it was the same thing over again. But instead of getting divorced, they just said, 'hey, we can fuck each other and other people and be perfectly fine and not get divorced. No harm done'."

"It seems so out of character for an adult."

"They aren't adults. They're over grown teenagers with no control over their fucked up hormones." I sighed.

"I hate to be pushy, Aida, but could you cut down on the swearing? It's really annoying."

"These baby mama bitches are fucking annoying, but nobody's doing shit about that, now aint they." I sighed again and shook my head.

"Okay, whatever. Swear the whole time, see if I fucking care." Aida smirked when I said that.

"See. You're getting with the program." I rolled my eyes.

"Shut your face, Aida."

"Shut your own face Dhampir." Aida and I glared at each other for a moment before we smiled and started laughing together.

"When is she going to open her presents?"

"After they get bored with rubbing her belly and putting crowns on her head. Then she'll open her presents and start holding baby clothes up against her like she can fucking wear them." I smiled.

"I think that's just a force of habit." Aida rolled her eyes.

"You won't see me holding a little Dora the explorer shirt against myself any time soon." I giggled.

"Of course not."

"I swear, the little bitch doesn't even speak Spanish. She just knows random words in Spanish. Even I can do that and I'm getting a C in Spanish."

"It's for little kids."

"Well last time I checked, little kids are able to absorb and learn languages like its second nature. Telling a kid how to say random words isn't going to do them much good. Knowing how to say boot in Spanish isn't going to help a child when they go to Mexico."

"Kids like it. That's all the industry cares about." Aida shrugged.

"Better than Telatubies, I guess."

"Please. Anything's better than Telatubies."

"Yeah. Even pink cuddly teddy bears in poufy outfits are better than that damn show. Little bastard people are talking gibberish and turning children's brains to mush and mothers are pissed off that their kids are getting fat because of the fucking cookie monster. How about, your kids are fat because you let the fucker eat too much. Don't blame cookie monster and turn him into the fucking veggie monster. Dumb bitches. Don't fuck with a good show." I sighed.

"I wish I could share your passion for the matter, but I never watched Sesame Street." Aida looked at me like I'd just committed a capital offence.

"Excuse me?" I sighed.

"I never watched kid shows. I watched Dragon Ball, but that's because Paul got the box set and Jacob was watching it because he hadn't seen it since he was ten." Aida sighed.

"Dragon Ball?" I nodded. "Okay. It's not an American classic, but it's better than nothing. You're not completely hopeless. What episodes did you watch?"

"The Korin saga and part of the second tournament." I sighed.

"That's it?" I nodded. "Those aren't even the best episodes. You need to watch the Piccolo saga and Piccolo junior saga. Those are epic sagas. And the first few episodes are the best. That's when you meet Krillin and Roshi. You didn't even watch the episodes where Goku's trying to get master Roshi to agree to train him by getting him a girlfriend." I shrugged.

"I saw Master Roshi as Jackie Chun and the whole rivalry between him and the Crain hermit."

"Who cares? You didn't see the best parts of the series."

"I was never one to watch a lot of shows, so sue me. I watched Invader Zim and he was good enough for me."

"Okay good. You're watching at least one of the essential shows."

"Of course. Invader Zim's the coolest alien ever."

"Better than even Piccolo." I smiled and shrugged.

"Who's Piccolo by the way?" Aida looked at me a moment with a blank, disbelieving stare.

"Just watch Dragon Ball all the way through. It's a cute show and it has plenty of funny moments and a lot of moments where Yamcha and Krillin get owned."

"I saw plenty of Yamcha owned moments."

"Yes, but you didn't see the first episodes with Yamcha, those are the best ones. That's when he's a bad guy that's scared of women and wants the Dragon Balls to wish away his fear and Bulma's searching for the Dragon Balls to wish for the perfect boyfriend. And all the moments when Bulma and Yamcha were on and off throughout the show."

"Okay, fine, I'll watch the whole series. I'll ask Jacob to get the box set from Paul and I'll watch it with him."

"Please tell me you at least know Emperor Pilaf." I shook my head. "You don't know Emperor Pilaf?! How's that possible? He's the best bad guy ever." I shrugged.

"I never saw any episodes with Pilaf." Aida started rubbing her face in aggravation.

"You're dead to me." I smiled a little and walked over to the food table and got myself some water and, I was pleased to find, sauerkraut. Aida followed me and then took a seat on the couch when Mrs. Stanley announced she would be opening presents soon. And, as fate would have it, the first gift she grabbed was Aida's. I leaned over to her so only she could hear me.

"Did you really seriously get her free nurse's office condoms?" Aida smiled and nodded. I looked at Mrs. Stanley wide eyed as she opened the present with excitement while people sitting around her smiled and spoke with just as much excitement. Then she saw the present and gave it a strange look. She looked at the card.

"Who's Aida?" Aida's mom looked at Aida with shocked eyes while Aida raised her hand. "You got me condoms?" Aida nodded.

"What, too soon?" I held back a laugh. Jacob must have heard what happened. He didn't bother trying not to laugh. Jacob laughed as he walked over to the couch and took a seat on the couch next to me, making another woman scoot out of his way.

"Nice, Aida." I could smell what smelled like Budweiser on his breath. I looked at Jacob and brought my face close to his ear while Aida's mom and all the other women started yelling at Aida for her thoughtless gift.

"Jacob." Jacob looked at me and I held my breath hoping to not smell more of the beer.

"Yeah, baby?"

"How many beers did you have?" Jacob became thoughtful.

"Four. And Mr. Stanley had some of the Martinis that Mrs. Stanley had made for everyone, so I had some too."

"You mean you had beer and vodka in one sitting?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. But don't worry, baby, I'm not drunk." I nodded.

"Ahuh. Jacob?"

"Yeah, baby?" He was definitely drunk. He never called me baby this many tomes.

"What's the capital of Washington State?" Jacob looked like he was about to answer, but then he stopped and looked thoughtful. I sat there and waited for his answer, but I already knew what I wanted to know. He wanted to be buzzed and he got his wish.

"Birmingham?"

"That's the capital of Alabama."

"Chicago?"

"That's a city in Illinois."

"Russia?" I looked at Jacob a moment trying not to get mad. He was worse than I thought. He can handle his drink my ass.

"That's a country, Jacob."

"Really? Well I'll be damned." I sighed.

"How many martinis did you have with those beers?" Jacob looked thoughtful again.

"Five I think." My eyes widened and I forced myself to stay calm.

"You mean to tell me you had four beers and five martinis?" Jacob nodded with a smile.

"They were tasty. And Mr. Stanley let me have some Sam Adams too. I don't like that stuff as much though." I could feel my blood turning into lava. Now I was really mad. Then I took his beer out of his hand and handed it to Aida.

"Okay, you're done."

"No I'm not. I was only half way through that bottle." I glared at Jacob.

"You're not drinking anymore and that's final."

"But Baby..."

"Jacob, I said no." Jacob's face turned angry and he looked away. Yep, he was drunk. Childish wasn't something he usually did.

"Look, it's a joke, Mrs. Stanley. Nothing wrong with a joke." I finally turned my attention back to the others while Jacob pouted the whole time.

"It wasn't a funny one, young lady." Aida held her tongue but closed her eyes before rolling them. Aida hated being called young lady. She didn't like being referred to as an inferior. Aida didn't respond so everyone would stop looking at her and give their attention back to the party.

From what I could tell, Mrs. Stanley and Aida's mom were the only people that understood why Aida's joke was so inappropriate. They others just thought Aida was being rude when she was really trying to call Mrs. Stanley a whore in a subtle way. I wouldn't call Mrs. Stanley a whore per se. The word greedy seemed to fit better in my opinion. Mrs. Stanley opened another present and got excited when she saw a pink one piece outfit for a baby that was sided with snaps and had a little frog on the chest.

"Oh! It's so cute! I wish they made this in my size." Before Aida could say a word, I grabbed her arm.

_I know what you're going to say Aida, and I'm begging you, keep it to yourself. You've already gotten in trouble for giving the pregnant woman condoms. Don't make it worse by calling her out on something stupid._ Aida looked at me and stared at me angrily, but she did as I said and didn't say a word no matter how many times Mrs. Stanley got excited over a little baby outfit and other things. She thanked me when she saw the diaper dispenser I got her.

"Oh, it's perfect, Nessie, Jacob. How did you know?" I shrugged, thinking her question was kind of stupid. I'd think she was joking if her face was so happily serious.

"Lucky guess, I suppose." She smiled at me and got back to unwrapping the rest of her presents and accepted each gift with wide eyes and joy. I wondered why all this stuff was so exciting for her. I suppose it's something I'll understand when I get pregnant eventually. I looked at Jacob after that thought and stayed calm when I saw Jacob looking at me. Normally that wouldn't bother me. But right now, he was giving me a mean glare. "What, Jacob?"

"I aint drink Nessie."

"You mean you're not drunk."

"Don't correct me." I sighed and pinched my nose.

"I'll correct you all I want you inebriated dumbass."

"I'm not no……….." I looked at Jacob again cautiously. His face was suddenly blank. "Nessie."

"What?"

"Let's go ride bikes." I just stared at him while Aida started laughing. Heckling like a hyena more appropriately. Not only was he drunk, but he was under self-given ADD.

"What?"

"What?" Jacob and I stared at each other for a moment. Maybe it was worse than self-inflicted ADD.

"You were talking."

"About what?"

"About bikes." Jacob nodded and smiled.

"Bikes kick abs."

"You mean ass?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, that thing." I looked at Jacob a moment before looking away. Thankfully, no one except for Aida was paying attention.

"I hate you so much right now."

"But Nessie, I love you." Then Jacob started looking sad. I panicked and pulled him by the hand with me out of the house on the front porch being ready for the worst.

"What's wrong, Jacob?"

"You don't love me no more." I sighed and shook my head. This was the last time I ever let him get drunk again. This was ridiculous.

"That's not true Jacob. I love you very much. I'm just mad at you right now." Jacob's face went from sad to panic.

"What did I do, baby? What did I do wrong?" I sighed again.

"Nothing, never mind, Jacob. Just calm down." Then, without warning, Jacob grabbed me into his arms and into a crushing hug.

"I'm sorry, Nessie. I'm really sorry."

"Don't be, Jacob. Just please calm down. There's nothing wrong. It's okay." I suddenly heard snickering coming from my left. I looked over and saw Aida standing in the doorway with a big smile.

"And I thought Zeppelin was an annoying drunk." I glared.

"You're not helping, Aida."

"Yeah, you're not helping, Aida."

"Shut up, Jacob."

"I love you."

"Kay thanks." Aida started laughing again and I never stopped glaring at her. "It's not funny, Aida."

"Yes it is." I sighed.

"I'm leaving. I need to take him home." Aida shook her head.

"You can't leave now. Mrs. Stanley's started to give out cake."

"I like cake."

"Jacob, I said shut up."

"I still love you." I didn't answer him this time. I just looked at Aida.

"He doesn't need cake. He needs sleep and a slap on the face when he's sober. I told him not to get this drunk and he does it anyway."

"At least take some cake with you." I looked at Aida a moment before rolling my eyes.

"Fine. But he doesn't get it until I say." Aida smirked.

"Fuck, Nessie. Is he your future husband or your child?"

"He feels more like my child right now." Aida laughed and walked away. A few seconds later, she came back with a slice of cake.

"Here you go. I'll see you later, Nessie." I took the plate and nodded.

"Thanks. I'll see you Monday." I took Jacob's hand again and got him into my car before getting in on the driver's side. Jacob tried to eat the cake but I swatted his hand and told him no.

I took Jacob back to his place and called daddy letting him know that I was spending the night at Jacob's. I was sure to leave out that Jacob was drunk. Thankfully, Jacob was suddenly really affectionate and spent most of the call kissing my neck and shoving his hands in my front pockets and pulling me against him. Normally, I would love that. But right now, it was only making me mad. Once I'd hung up with daddy, I forced myself away from Jacob and pulled him with me to his room.

"Change into your pajamas and go to bed Jacob. I want you sober as soon as possible." Jacob shrugged.

"Okay, Nessie." Then, instead of going into his closet to change like he normally would, he started changing right in front of me. Once his pants and shirt were off, he spent five minutes looking through his room trying to find his pajamas, passing them three times even when I pointed at them. Once he had them on, he looked at me blankly, then seductively. "You want to join me, Nessie?" I shook his head.

"No, Jacob. Sleep. And I don't want you out of bed until you're thinking clearly. Understood?" Jacob saluted me and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am." I looked at Jacob while he stood still continuing to salute me.

"Just get in the damn bed and go to sleep." Jacob nodded again and I left to go to his living room while he crawled into bed. I closed the door behind me and grabbed the house phone when I was sitting. I looked for Billy's number on speed dial and waited a moment after I called for him to answer.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey Billy, its Nessie."

"_Hey, Nessie. What's the matter? You sound upset."_

"I am upset I'm afraid. Jacob and I went to that baby shower and he didn't want to talk to anyone there so he stayed with Mr. Stanley most of the time. And in doing so, he had four beers and five martinis." Billy laughed.

"_Wow. I've heard about being desperate to be absent, but that's bad."_

"It's worse than bad."

"_He didn't throw up at the party or anything did he?"_

"No, thank god, no. He just acted like a child. I've sent him to bed for the night hoping he'll sleep it off." Billy laughed.

"_You sound more like his mother than Sarah did."_ I groaned.

"I know, and I don't like it. I'm his girlfriend, not his mother."

"_Don't be too mad at him, Nessie. This isn't something he does on a regular basis. Jacob was bored and didn't want to be there and he went a little overboard. It happens to all of us. I can guarantee you that it will never happen again."_

"Not if I have anything to say about it, it won't." Billy chuckled again. "Can you call everyone and let them know Jacob isn't doing patrol tonight?"

"_Sure, hun. I'll let everyone know. They'll never let the poor thing live this down."_

"I won't, that's for sure." Billy chuckled again.

"_Don't be too hard on him, Nessie."_

"I won't. Thanks for your help, Billy."

"_No problem Nessie. I'll talk to you later."_

"Later." Then we hung up the phone and I turned on the TV and looked for something good to watch and waited for Jacob.

He was asleep through the whole night. I ended up falling asleep on the couch and woke up when I felt a warm hand caress my face. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob with a look like he was in pain.

"What the hell happened?" I tried not to smile.

"You drank too much." Jacob sighed.

"Enough that I feel like my head's being split open?" I nodded. "Damn it. I'm sorry, Nessie. I wasn't too bad, was I?" I shook my head.

"You didn't end up drawing attention to yourself if that's what you mean. You pissed me off something awful, though. Which reminds me, I need to slap you for this." Jacob sighed.

"Can it wait until my head's not pounding anymore?"

"It'll have to. Your head will start pounding again I plan to slap you so hard." Jacob chuckled small and was immediately scrunching his face in pain again.

"I guess I deserve it. Does Edward know about this?"

"He will."

"Of course he will." Then Jacob looked at me with a guilty smile. "I know you're mad at me right now, but could I please rest my head on you? I think it might help." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Sure, Jacob. Just don't get too comfortable." He smiled and kissed my cheek before resting his head on my chest. "Figures you go there."

"They're soft, Nessie. It's like a pillow."

"If you want a pillow, go back to bed." He shook his head.

"That pillow's not good enough. I want this one." Despite myself, I smiled and started running my fingers through his hair.

"I'll tell you what. Promise never to get that hammered again and I'll consider not hitting you." Jacob smiled.

"I promise. I'll never get that drunk again." I smiled.

"Good."

"Does this mean you're not going to hit me now?" I nodded.

"I guess. But if it happens again, I won't be so merciful." Jacob smiled and kissed my chin. We stayed quiet a moment before I spoke again. "I love you, Jacob." He smirked.

"Kay thanks." I laughed when he said that and he grinned, but didn't laugh. I think his head hurt too much to laugh. I was surprised he remembered that. When I was done laughing, he looked up at me again and smiled. "But seriously. I'm really sorry about that. It'll never happen again, I promise. And I love you too." I smiled and kissed his nose. He kissed my chin in return. Then he sat upright and started kissing my lips.

"What about your headache?" Jacob bit my bottom lip before answering.

"It's not so bad."

*Sorry it took so long. I got distracted with Dragonball, but I finished that. Also, I forgot to say that I'm also planning to make a few chapters for Mykolas, Niele, and Rafael. The stories I have in mind for them are really good and I hope you'll all like them. Hope you enjoyed the story. Review please, it makes my day.*


	20. The Sparkle In Her Eyes

**The Sparkle In Her Eyes**

Daddy was furious when he found out about Jacob getting hammered at the baby shower. I tried to tell daddy that it was okay and that nothing bad happened, but he was still furious that Jacob would do something like that and embarrass me so recklessly. Jacob didn't fight daddy's accusations. In fact, Jacob agreed with daddy. He was still mad at himself for being so careless. No matter that I'd forgiven him for it, he was mad at himself for putting himself in such a compromising state.

It was a while before daddy stopped yelling at Jacob and finally calmed down. Jacob had remained calm through all the yelling and I was sincerely impressed by it. It always amazed me how good Jacob was at just sitting there letting daddy yell at him. He would never tolerate it from anyone else. I think he only did it because he was my daddy and he wanted to stay on his good side. From what Billy had always told him when he was growing up, 'If you win the father, you've won the girl'.

I think daddy was trying to punish Jacob, but in truth he was punishing me too. Daddy wanted Jacob and me to take a little break from each other. His way of ensuring that Jacob would never screw up so badly again I suppose. We both fought him over the matter, but he wouldn't budge. And in the time that Jacob and I weren't allowed to see each other, daddy had me sit down and look at every college that had accepted me and told me to think long and hard about where I wanted to go. Daddy was pushing for Yale or Dartmouth. Momma was urging me towards the University of Phoenix Arizona. Not surprising since that was the school she'd been planning to go to before she and daddy met.

It was hard to pick a place that I wanted to go. I still didn't even know what I wanted to major in. And I hated the idea of going into school not knowing what I wanted to major in. Because of my grades and the millions upon millions of placement tests I'd taken this year, I was able to test out of my gen ed classes, which both me and Jacob were thrilled about. But that meant that if I went to college undecided, then all I'd be doing is taking random classes that may or may not benefit me and just be wasting my time and money. Just because money wasn't much of an issue didn't mean that I should be wasteful with it.

"You know, Nessie, you could always be a doctor like me," Carlisle said while I was looking through the college websites. I shook my head.

"Sorry, grandpa, but the idea of being a doctor just makes me nauseous. I've read those medical journals of yours and I'd rather shoot myself than read those again." Carlisle chuckled and patted my head.

"Maybe not the same kind of doctor as me. Maybe a different kind of doctor. Like a Therapist or a Psychologist. Or a Pharmacist. That's an excellent job and it pays well." I shrugged.

"I don't know, grandpa. Having to spend my day listening to people's problems would just make me depressed. And a pharmacist sounds so boring. All I'd be doing is filling prescriptions."

"Nessie, I hate to tell you this, but there aren't many jobs out there that you'll love. People who look forward to going to work are lucky people."

"I thought you loved being a doctor." Carlisle nodded.

"Of course I do. But sometimes, there are just those days where I'm almost tempted to come to work with a shot gun." I giggled and shook my head. "Everyone has those days, even me." Esme, who was standing next to Carlisle, offered her suggestion.

"Maybe a wedding planner. You're very organized and creative." I sighed.

"Grandma, I've watched one too many episodes of Bridezillas. I won't chance having to swallow my pride and work for a woman whose sanity I question. And I hate looking at men and wondering what they see in such a monster. I swear, the sex can't be that good." Emmett shrugged.

"You never know, Nessie. Some men will put up with just about anything to get laid."

"Yeah, but the thing is a lot of those men are really handsome. They could have any girl they want and they're settling for someone most people just want to shoot."

"That's life I'm afraid." I sighed at Emmett's comment and continued looking through the college websites trying to decide where I should go and at least have a major in mind. Ryan and Valerie were standing next to me at the computer and Ryan offered his advice.

"Maybe you could be an astronaut." I smiled and shook my head.

"Sorry, Ryan. I don't want to move for a job. And I know what space does to a person's muscles. I'll leave traveling around space to the young boys and girls that dream of seeing the stars."

"How about a teacher?" Valerie suggested.

"I don't know. That's not really my kind of thing." Then Seth, who was over visiting, made a suggestion.

"There's a guy I know who's majoring in Bio-Chemistry. I hear that makes good money."

"Bio-chemistry is a medical field of research."

"Is it? I'd never heard of a bio-chemist before I met him." I nodded.

"A bio-chemist typically works at a university or lab and do research on cells and proteins or help develop new drugs."

"You're smart enough to do that."

"I don't have the patience to do that. Besides, I don't want to spend my whole life coped up in a lab trying to understand proteins and cells to create good medication." Carlisle patted my head.

"I don't know, Nessie. You'd make me proud if you were to do something like that. You could even do more research about yourself and other half vampires. You never know. Your DNA might do a great deal of good to other people." I sighed and rested my head against the computer screen.

"I'll think about it, grandpa." Carlisle smiled, patted my head again, then left with Esme to go to his library. Daddy took his spot next to me and helped me look through the websites.

"Did you look at the Dartmouth website yet?"

"Yes, daddy."

"Did anything sound interesting?"

"For the sake of making you and grandpa happy, I found out Dartmouth has an excellent medical and bio-chemistry program." Daddy smiled.

"I know. Yale has that too." I sighed and daddy spoke before I could say it. "I know, honey, you're not interested in going into medicine. I'm just saying it's a very stable career and you'd always have a job because there are never too many doctors. And studying bio-chemistry would open a lot of doors for you. Industries love a bio-chemist." Then momma spoke.

"Or you could get majors in a few languages and become a linguist. Any school you go to would be able to give you plenty of language courses." Daddy nodded.

"And you already speak the most popular languages fluently. Public relations or even working in Washington DC come to mind."

"Daddy, I don't want a job that requires me to move permanently. Jacob needs to live here and be with the pack. And frankly, a long distance relationship isn't exactly every girls dream marriage."

"Jacob would move."

"He would, but he wouldn't like it. You know that. And I don't want to put him through that. It's bad enough I'll probably be separated from him for four years as it is. I don't want to make that worse."

"Hence the beauty of medicine or law. There're jobs everywhere."

"Yeah, but I don't want to be a lawyer or a doctor."

"Well, honey, you better get an idea soon. You've tested out of your gen ed classes. So unless you want to take those anyway, I suggest you start thinking." Momma swatted daddy gently.

"Edward, stop being pushy. It's not like she's aging like a normal human. We could let her be a college student her whole life if she wanted or at least until she finds a major that she really loves."

"Momma, I don't want to be a college student forever either. That's a waste of money. I don't care how rich we are, being a full time college student my whole life would be silly. Especially when Dartmouth is charging $52,973 per semester."

"It's nothing we can't handle Nessie. Besides, you've got scholarships. Enough even that we won't need to pay anything. Schools are literally paying you to go to their school."

"And Northwestern is a really good school too. And it's in Chicago. Chicago's closer than Main."

"I suppose. And it's slightly more affordable than Yale." Daddy smiled and rubbed my head.

"So does that mean you want to go to Northwestern?" After thinking about it a moment, I nodded.

"I'm going to Northwestern University." Daddy smiled wider and hugged me tight.

"That's my girl. Now all you have to do is think about what you want to study. And you let the rest of us brag about it, okay." I smiled and nodded.

"Sure daddy. Brag all you want."

"I'm sure Charlie will too. And Renee will just jump off the walls with excitement." Momma said with a smile on her face.

"You really think so?"

"Of course. Northwestern is a tough school. Getting in and being able to pay for it is half the battle. The classes are tough. Some people stay at a university for years just trying to find a major they like." I sighed.

"I will avoid that at any cost." Momma smiled.

"That's the spirit, Nessie."

As momma predicted, grandma and grandpa were ecstatic about the news. Carlisle and Esme were really proud too. Carlisle was still pushing slightly, dropping not so subtle hints, that he really wanted me to get into the medical field. Daddy was being just as pushy. It seemed like momma, Esme, and grandma and grandpa were the only ones telling me I should do whatever it is that I like. Though Charlie was sure to suggest me going into Forensic science.

A few weeks later when Jacob was finally allowed to have me over again, he was thrilled too.

"Northwestern, huh?" I nodded. "That's a top IV League school isn't it?" I nodded again.

"Yep. One of the best. I'll be out of Washington, but Chicago's better than Hanover, New Hampshire or Connecticut. And I really liked Chicago anyway. It's a fun city." Jacob smiled.

"Yeah, it was. Does that mean you know what you're going to study?" I shook my head.

"Still no clue. Carlisle really wants me to get into medicine. Bio-chemistry has been hinted towards more than once. Momma suggested I be a linguist. Charlie thinks it would be cool for me to get into Forensics, and Ryan thinks I should be an astronaut." Jacob chuckled.

"That would be pretty cool."

"Nah. I'd rather stay on earth. And I really don't want to be a doctor."

"What do bio-chemists do exactly?" I shrugged.

"Lots of things. They make new drugs, study things in the human body, they can get into law, there's a million things." Jacob smiled again.

"Well, at least you know you would always have a job."

"I know. But I'm not really interested in it."

"How much does a bio-chemist make?"

"It depends. Some can make up to $150,000 a year." Jacob's eyes widened a little.

"That's a nice paycheck." I giggled and nodded.

"I know. But I don't want to do something that I'm not interested in, regardless of whether I'm really good at it or not."

"I know. But you should look into it. You might like it. And think of what you could do." I rolled my eyes.

"You sound like Carlisle." Jacob grinned.

"He's not a bad person to sound like. And I'm only pushing because I love you." I giggled and walked over to him and hugged him, snuggling my face into his chest. When I was hugging him, he hugged me and lifted me so that we were facing each other and I was a good foot off the ground.

"I know. I love you too." Jacob smiled and kissed my nose before kissing me.

The kiss was passionate in seconds. He licked my lips and I let him in happily and our tongue played together. After a few minutes, Jacob lifted me up slightly more and rested me on the kitchen counter. When I was there, he moved his hands over my back and to my hips then rested his hands at my thighs. I threaded my fingers through his hair hoping to pull him even closer to me in any way possible. Jacob squeezed my thighs and made me shake from his touch. Then he took his lips away and started kissing my jaw and sucked on my ear and ran his tongue along my ear.

"I missed you." I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I missed you too. I hope you didn't starve." Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck.

"The beauty of fast food I guess. And Sam was nice enough to let me have dinner at his house a few times this month."

"That's good to know. I know Emily is a good cook." Jacob nodded into my neck and kissed there again.

"She does. But it's not yours." I smiled.

"I've spoiled you, haven't I?" Jacob chuckled and lifted me back into his arms.

"I'm afraid so. I can't imagine how I'll live without you." Jacob shook his head in what seemed to be disbelief. "I still can't believe you're going off to college. It seems like just yesterday that I was teaching you how to play patty cake."

"It was six years ago, so close enough." Jacob chuckled.

"Yeah, close enough. When you think about it like that it's really weird." I nodded.

"Yeah, I know. That's why it's best to not think about it. Just concentrate on how old I look." Jacob smiled and kissed my neck. "How old do you think I look by the way?" Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know. I know how old you really are, so it's hard to say."

"Just make a guess." Jacob sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know. 24?" I grinned and kissed his nose.

"How sweet of you to say. That means I look about the same age as you." Jacob smiled.

"That's always a good thing. I can't say I really care what people think. At least not anymore."

"Me either. I just want to be with you. I don't think it should matter what anyone else thinks about it." Jacob smiled and kissed me.

"Amen, Nessie." We laughed together before we started kissing again.

When we did finally part, Jacob nuzzled my nose and asked me to make something for him. It'd been a while since I'd fixed him dinner and he really wanted something tasty. I was surprised to find fresh fish in the fridge, but then again, it wasn't unexpected. I looked at him and knew immediately he wanted fish fry, so I got to work on making it. Jacob stayed in the kitchen with me and watched me cook, hugging me and kissing my neck every chance he got. At lunch the next day, Madison and Candy weren't at school. Evidently, there was a flu going around school. It would explain why half the school was out. Aida was one of the few of my friends that wasn't sick, though she was sneezing like crazy.

"Wow, that's great. Northwestern is one of those hotshot schools right?" I nodded and waited for her to sneeze before I spoke.

"Yeah. It's a good school and they've given me tons of money in scholarships. Daddy's really proud about it."

"I bet. But be careful. I hear that's the school that a lot of smart Asians in Illinois go that don't know what their major is."

"And you would know this how?" Aida shrugged.

"My dad works with people that went to Northwestern. Why they would trade Chicago for Seattle, I'll never understand, but all the ones that I've met have been kind of pricky. I'm not saying all Asians are like that, all I'm saying is the ones I've met have kind of been assholes, but maybe that's just because they think they're a lot smarter than they really are."

"I deal with that all the time and none of my classmates are Asian. I think it's just a matter of letting your grades get to your head. And truthfully, you don't really need to be smart to get into an IV League school, you just need to have money or a shitload of scholarships. It's the same thing with people that become presidents. Just because they went to Harvard or Yale doesn't necessarily mean they're smart. It could just mean they had enough money to go."

"And you're one of those lucky bitches that has all three at your disposal." I grinned and shrugged.

"I won't apologize for being lucky."

"I don't think its luck as much as you're actually smart. So you're going to Northwestern. Does that mean you finally know what you're going to major in?" I sighed and shook my head.

"No clue. And I tested out of all the general education classes, so it's not like I have two years to think about it." Aida smirked a little.

"You know, normal people would be thrilled to test out of their gen eds." I shrugged.

"I am thrilled. I just wish I knew what I wanted to do instead of taking random classes. The longer I'm away, the longer I'll be away from Jacob. Married or not, I don't want to be separated from him that long."

"I know what you mean. That's why I'm going to Peninsula College. It's a good school, it has a good nursing program, and I'll be close to Zeppelin."

"I thought you were living with him." She smirked and nodded.

"That is being close to him, isn't it?" I smiled and shrugged.

"True."

"Why doesn't Jacob just move there with you or something?"

"Because he needs to be here with the pack. He's the Alpha, he can't just leave."

"Can't he assign a substitute or something? He does have a second in command doesn't he?"

"It doesn't work like that. There's a whole dynamic that's really sensitive." Aida looked at me for a few seconds blinking her eyes occasionally. Then she responded.

"You're just making that up, aren't you?"

"Shut up. I know it just doesn't work like that."

"Ahuh. You just don't know the reason why." I nodded.

"Exactly." Aida rolled her eyes at me.

"Whatever. He's your boyfriend." I smiled and kept peeling at my orange.

"Do you want my orange?" Aida gave me a strange look.

"I hate oranges. They're an evil fruit that should be abolished from this planet."

"Some people like oranges."

"Yeah, and some people aren't allergic to the fucking thing. Just the smell of oranges makes me sick. I've tolerated it with you, but now that it's come up, please pretend to eat another fruit. Or better yet, a piece of lettuce or something."

"I'm sorry. It's an easy fruit to pretend to eat."

"So are grapes."

"They don't sell grapes in the cafeteria."

"Make them." Aida and I stared at each other for a moment longer, both of us just glaring. "You can't win, Nessie. I'm a master of the starring game. My record is three minutes." I smiled at last.

"Fine. You win."

"Was there any doubt?" We laughed a little after that.

After school that day, I was walking to my car when I noticed a new sign on the walls of the school that I didn't remember being there earlier. It was announcing the theme for the prom this year and when it was. The theme was 1950's Hollywood glam. So, of course, there was a picture of Marilyn Monroe on the poster wearing her pink dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when she sang Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend. It was one of Alice's favorite movies. That and Some Like It Hot. She'd been a big Marilyn Monroe fan. Daddy always said that he'd lost respect for the woman when she started sleeping with the President, but what can you do?

The prom was advertised for the day after graduation on Saturday June 9th. It looked like it would be fun and the dress I'd worn for the wedding would look really nice and fit with the theme. I wasn't planning on telling Alice what the theme of the prom was. She'd have me in a 50's hair-do and a vintage dress in a heartbeat if I told her. It would be enough of a fight to get Alice to let me wear a dress more than once. To Alice, that was the equivalent of murder.

Reading the poster though made me remember what month it was now. It was May. Late May to be more specific. Graduation was only two weeks away. I couldn't believe how fast my junior year had gone by. It was like it passed in the blink of an eye. And Alice had already sent out the invitations for my graduation party. She was kind enough not to invite a lot of the senior girls. Even now, she was mad at them for daring to bring harm to my hair. I hadn't forgiven them by a long shot, but I was over the incident for the most part. Alice still planned on slapping any of them if she ever saw them.

After looking at the poster, I kept walking to my car and drove over to Jacob's. I'd already asked daddy if it was okay if I go to his house. And Jacob had laundry that I wanted to get done. When I got back to his house, he wasn't home. I already knew he wouldn't be. He had work today. And I knew he wouldn't be home for long since he had patrol tonight. I got all the laundry together and started the wash first thing. Once that was all set up, I got to work on setting up dinner for him. He always had time for food.

I figured stake and macaroni and cheese was a safe bet. I started with the macaroni and cheese. It would take longer to make. Shortly after I put it in the oven to start cooking, I heard the door open and Jacob came in. He looked sad about something. I walked over to him and hugged him while placing a kiss on his chest. He hugged me back.

"Hey, Jacob. How was your day?" Jacob sighed.

"I have some bad news, Nessie. It's about Claire." I looked up at Jacob with worried eyes.

"Is she alright? What happened?" Jacob loosened his grip on me so we could look at each other. Jacob didn't look crushed, he just looked remorseful. I was hoping that meant that there wasn't anything seriously wrong.

"You know Claire and her family had a dog, right? It was the Golden Retriever, Sandi." I nodded.

"What about it?"

"The vet found a large tumor start to grow between her stomach and liver. It was growing way too fast and there was nothing the doctors could do. They put Sandi down this morning." I looked at Jacob a moment before saying anything.

"How's Claire doing?"

"Not too good. She adored that dog. She was with her when they put her down and she's been a wreck all day. She didn't go to school, she won't talk to anyone, not even Quil. He's been with her all morning, but she hasn't said a word. She was crying for a good hour before she just went silent."

"Poor thing. Was there really nothing the vet could do?" Jacob nodded.

"I'm afraid so. The tumor was growing too fast. And Sandi couldn't keep any food down, so she would've died of starvation if they didn't. Keeping her alive would've been cruel. But Claire had that dog since she was a baby, so she's taking the loss pretty hard."

"I bet. Is there anything we can do? Should I go over and talk to her?" Jacob shook his head.

"Not now. I think Claire just wants to be left alone. Just let her be with Quil for now."

"But still, I feel like I should do something. Maybe go over to their house and make them dinner. They deserve that at least."

"I know, but not today. Just let them mourn. When you're that close to a pet, healing is really hard. Especially when you're Claire's age." I nodded.

"Alright. But I'll do something for them tomorrow. I'll tell momma and daddy so they can all do something too." Jacob smiled.

"I think they would like that." Jacob hugged me tighter and I returned it. After a few moments, I let go of Jacob and told him to relax while I finished dinner. He was nice enough to get the laundry when it was done.

Once Jacob left that night for patrol, I locked up his apartment and made my way home with the news. Daddy heard my thoughts before I reached the house and already told everyone what happened by the time I got there. Esme was already on the phone telling Claire's parents that she heard about what happened and that she was terribly sorry for their lose. Alice, momma, and Rosalie were sitting on the couch together, Valerie in Rosalie's lap. I took a seat next to momma and Alice sighed.

"That poor thing. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a pet when you're that close to it." Momma nodded.

"It's always hard. Dogs and cats always feel like real members of the family, so losing them is that much harder."

"Maybe we should get Claire a puppy. Maybe it'll cheer her up." Rosalie shook her head.

"It's too soon. If we do that, we should wait a while. It'll take time for Claire to heal from losing that dog. When my cat passed away when I was little, it took months for me to get over it. I doubt Claire will be any different."

"I still feel like there's something we should do to help." I spoke next.

"I'm planning to go over there tomorrow and bring them dinner. You should come with me. I think they would appreciate the hospitality." Alice smiled.

"Then that's exactly what we'll do. We can wait until next year before we get her a new puppy." Momma and Rosalie sighed, but said nothing more.

The next day after school, I went to Claire's house and saw her home with her mom. She was still moping, but I got the feeling it wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday. When she saw me come in, she smiled a little and said hi. I took a seat next to her and we just sat together and watched something she'd found on TV. Quil came over about two hours after me. When he got there, he went straight to Claire and pulled her into his lap to comfort her more. Claire rested her head against Quil's chest the whole time and watched the show a little absentmindedly.

Around the same time Claire's father got home, my family came to the house with lots of food and several cards with sincere apologies. Jacob and the other members of the back showed up and brought food as well. I think Claire's parents appreciated the gesture more than she did, but Quil was with her, so that made her feel that much better. It made me smile when I looked at them. It reminded me of the way Jacob and I used to be when I was younger. It wouldn't be much longer and she would start having feelings for Quil. I still couldn't believe that Claire was turning ten this summer.

The guys that had patrol tonight left after they were finished with dinner. Jacob and I stayed a few more hours before he drove me home. Daddy and momma took my car knowing that I would want to stay longer. On our way to the house, I remembered something that I wanted to tell Jacob.

"By the way, Jacob."

"Yeah, Nessie?" I smiled a little.

"I graduate in a month." Jacob chuckled under his breath and nodded his head.

"I know. I still can't believe it."

"Guess what the theme for Prom is this year." Jacob shrugged.

"Dare I ask?" I giggled and shook my head.

"1950's Hollywood glam. The poster had a big picture of Marilyn Monroe on it." Jacob chuckled.

"Isn't that the chick that sang happy birthday to the president? And had an affair with the president?" I smiled and nodded.

"All in the same. She was an icon for the fifties, so naturally, she would be on the poster for a fifties theme prom. But don't tell Alice. I don't want her deciding I need to dress the part." Jacob chuckled.

"I don't know. I think you would look nice if she did."

"Jacob, Alice would try to put me in a dress from the fifties. I can't wear those." Jacob gave me a look like I was nuts.

"Why the hell not?"

"I don't have enough hip." Jacob laughed without humor.

"You're insane, Nessie. You have gorgeous hips that are just the right size." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"You're biased, Jacob."

"No I'm not. I know a beautiful woman when I see one. Any man with eyes can see you're beautiful." I smiled and squeezed Jacob's knee. He grabbed a hold of my hand and squeezed in return.

"How sweet of you to say." Jacob smiled and kissed my hand.

"I'm only stating the obvious." I smiled and reached over to give Jacob a kiss. He kissed me back without taking his eyes off the road. When we got back to the house, it was almost eleven, so Jacob walked me back to the cottage. Momma and daddy stayed at the house.

When we got to the cottage, I went to the bathroom and took a shower. Jacob waited in my room reading whatever I had that sparked his interest. When I was done with my shower, I ran a towel through my hair and wrapped the towel around me before leaving the bathroom to go to my room. Jacob and I smiled at each other as I walked in and went to my closet to get some clothes. Once I had my clothes, I closed the door and got dressed. Once I was dressed, I went back to the bathroom and blow dried my hair. When I was completely dry, I went to my room and took a spot on my bed next to Jacob. When I was cuddled next to him, Jacob kissed my forehead. I was about to kiss him back, but he stopped me by putting his forefinger over my lips. I looked at him confused.

"Did I tell you I'm looking at buying a house?" My eyes widened.

"You are?" Jacob nodded. "What made you decide to do that?" Jacob shrugged.

"I think it's a good idea to get a house now, that way when you come back, we can start a family right away if you want." I smiled wider, ignoring the reference he was making to a much later date. I hoped that my finding out about the proposal would make him rethink us getting married so soon. That was my hope.

"That's a wonderful idea. Have you found a place yet?" Jacob shook his head.

"Not yet. I just started looking. Esme offered to make one for us, but I want to try finding one that we would like before I consider letting Esme and the others do it."

"Why not take them up on the offer? They'd have it done in no time. And where else would you be able to live without having a mortgage payment every month?" Jacob chuckled.

"I haven't said no yet. I just want to see what's already on the market nearby." I smiled and shook my head.

"You're so stubborn sometimes, you know that?" Jacob only grinned and kissed me. "So is there a specific area you want to stay in?"

"I'd like to stay on the reservation. That's where I grew up and I loved it."

"I won't complain. I wonder why people think reservations are such bad places to live. They really aren't." Jacob shrugged.

"It depends. Some reservations are better than others. I think we're lucky, in truth. Depression, alcoholism, and suicide is statistically more common amongst reservations. It's not surprising considering a lot of reservation in the U.S. don't get the rights they deserve. I think the Quileute tribe is better off because we were a lot pushier." I giggled.

"That pushiness wouldn't involve wolves would it?" Jacob chuckled.

"If we needed to. But I can guarantee they never knew it was us. Besides, we were very persuasive."

"A-huh." Jacob chuckled and kissed me again. "I'll bet one of them imprinted on a governor's daughter and that saved everyone." Jacob shook his head.

"Nope. Seth and I are the first ones to ever imprint on someone outside the tribe." I raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Jacob nodded.

"I think that might be why so many of us are imprinting this time. We have a broader pick then before." I smiled and kissed Jacob's neck.

"How nice." Jacob chuckled and took a hold of my neck and gently pulled me down to him. When I was on top, Jacob turned us over and kissed me lovingly.

I dug my hands into his short hair and lifted my knees up to cradle his hips. Jacob rested all his weight on his elbows on either side of my face and I started dragging my hands from his hair to his strong jaw. We kissed for several minutes. Simple kisses that would turn passionate in an instant. Whenever he licked the roof of my mouth, my nails would dig into his skin and I would squirm. He loved doing that to me, so he did it repeatedly, hoping for that reaction, which he got every time. When he took his lips away from mine, he slid the tip of his nose along my jaw, neck, and collarbone until his nose reached the top of my tank top pajamas, where he nuzzled my cleavage and kissed both my breasts before resting his head.

"Good night Nessie." I smiled and laced my fingers through his hair again.

"Night, Jacob. Sweet dreams." Jacob smiled, kissed my cheek, then closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes. I held onto him while he slept, holding him close to me like he was a blanket and fell asleep in his warm arms.

When I woke up that morning, Jacob wasn't on top of me. Without opening my eyes, I felt around to find him, but he wasn't there. I opened my eyes and looked around my room to look for him. He wasn't in my room, which I thought was odd. I looked around my room and listened outside trying to determine whether he was just not in my room or if he really wasn't here. As I was listening, daddy walked into my room with a smile.

"Morning, honey."

"Morning daddy. Do you know where Jacob is?" Daddy nodded.

"He left around two a.m. Seth and the others encountered three nomads nearby and Billy called Jacob telling him they needed help." I became worried. Daddy shook his head. "Don't worry, nothing bad happened. It was three newborns that had wondered into the area and ran away as soon as they saw the pack. They chased them for a while to make sure they were out of Washington and were home before dawn. No harm done." I sighed.

"Where's Jacob now?"

"He went to work." I gave daddy a surprised expression.

"Isn't it a bit early?" Daddy shrugged.

"Usually yes. But they were opened early this morning trying to get an order filled. Jacob helped out when he got there." Then daddy walked over to my closet and grabbed dark wash jeans, a grey off the shoulder sweater, black tank top, and a pair of black flat boots and handed them to me. "Now that you're filled in, it's time for school. Get dressed and come to the house for breakfast."

Daddy kissed my forehead before leaving my room and walking back to the house. I took time to wash my face and brush my teeth before getting dressed. I tucked my pants into the boots so you could see the boots and their two pretty circle buckles and let my hair flow freely. I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment. I hadn't even realized it, but I really looked older. When I started going to high school, I looked fourteen, just like everyone else. But now, I looked like I was well into my twenties. The realization made me smile a bit.

I stopped gawking after a moment and put on some lip gloss before leaving the cottage and going to the house. When I got there, there was blood for me in a glass. It'd been a while since I'd hunted, so I was really thirsty. When I was ready, I left for school and got there in about five minutes. And I managed to get to class mere seconds before the bell rang. At lunch that day, the upcoming prom was all anyone was talking about. Madison was giddy and telling me how much she couldn't wait for us all to go to prom and how sad she was that this would really be my last prom.

Gym was horrible that day. There was one guy that people were talking about that was planning to ask one girl to the prom by hanging a banner in the gym. I hadn't given any thought to that little rumor at all. That is until I walked into gym and saw a banner hanging of the sides of the shelf saying, 'Be my prom date Renesmy'. The only thing that made me feel slightly less bad about the whole situation was that he spelled my name wrong. I avoided telling him that. After seeing the banner, a whole bunch of girls from my classes surrounded me with smiles asking me if I accepted or not. I couldn't stand having so many people around me, so I pretended to faint just so I could get some breathing room. Aida and Couch Clapp helped me to the nurse's office and Aida stayed with me, a big grin on her face when we were alone.

"What's so funny?" Aida shrugged.

"I can't believe you pretended to faint to get out of telling a guy no." I sat up on the bed.

"That's not why I did it. I pretended to faint because I wanted everyone to give me some breathing room. And look, it worked." Aida laughed under her breath again.

"What's unfortunate is that he's not the only guy that was planning to ask you. He was just the only one with the balls to make his request a public announcement." I sighed.

"Well, you don't do that unless the one you're asking is already a girlfriend. That's not how you ask someone that is very likely to say no."

"How mean of you, Nessie." I glared at Aida and her sarcastic tone.

"It's not mean, it's being faithful."

"Nessie, being faithful means you aren't screwing around with someone behind Jacob's back. Going on a pity date is hardly cheating."

"It's not fair to that guy to go with him to prom when I know we won't have a good time. He's only asking me because he thinks I'm pretty. That's hardly the basis for a good night at the prom." Aida nodded her head and was silent a moment. Just when I was getting used to it, she spoke again.

"You don't even know that guy's name do you?"

"No idea." Aida burst out laughing then. I heard the nurse make a move to come to the room, so I fell back on the bed and pretended that I was still passed out. When she came in and asked what was going on, Aida just claimed to be laughing about something I said in my sleep. When the nurse left, I sat back up. "It's not funny, Aida."

"Like hell it isn't. That's fucking classic. A man asks you to the prom and you don't even know what his name is. It's too good."

"Fine, Aida, what's his name then." Still smiling from laughing, she made her face look thoughtful for a moment.

"I think his name is Tristan or something. Or maybe it was Ty. Or Tyler." I sighed.

"There. You don't know him either."

"That's because I don't have any classes with the seniors. I'm a junior remember? You're the only one that has any classes with the seniors and, guess what, it's because you're smarter than them." I rolled my eyes.

"I just have a good memory." Aida shrugged.

"Call it whatever you want Nessie." Then she laughed a little again. "I can't believe he spelled your name with a y." I shrugged.

"What can you do?"

"So are you going to tell him no?" I gave Aida a weird look.

"What the hell do you think, Aida?" Aida smiled innocently, or as innocent as I think her face could get.

"Well, he said that he'd be dropping by before he went home. So I suggest you start coming back to consciousness real soon." I groaned.

"Maybe I could just go home for the day." Aida laughed under her breath again.

"That's cruel, Nessie. It's not polite to avoid answering a person." I groaned again.

"Since when do you believe in being polite?"

"I'm being sarcastic, Nessie. Besides, I'm more concerned with the fact that it would make you look like a coward."

"Since when do you care what people think?"

"Once again, I'm thinking of you. For some reason, you do care what people think about you. I'm letting you know what they would probably think." I sighed.

"It doesn't really matter. I'm leaving for Illinois this summer. And why would that guy even ask me out to prom in the first place. I thought the whole school knew I was engaged."

"You're not engaged yet."

"Well I'm damn close." Aida laughed at the harsh tone of voice.

"My guess is maybe he didn't hear that bit of news."

"It's Forks, fucking, Washington. How could he not?" Aida raised an eyebrow at me.

"Nessie, you said fuck. I'm impressed."

"Shut your face, Aida."

"Shut your own face. I doubt very seriously that Madison or the others showed him and none of the girls in you graduating class got an invitation, so who knows? Maybe he really doesn't know that you're taken."

"But isn't Madison friends with everyone in school or something?" Aida shrugged.

"I don't know. I've never taken an interest in Madison's social status. She's annoying as fuck. That's all I know."

"She's not annoying, she just gets overly excited."

"Meaning she's annoying. She's like a fucking five year old." I wanted to disagree with that last part, but it was too true to argue with. "Well, whatever the circumstances, you're saying no anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"True."

For the rest of the period, Aida and I talked aimlessly about things. She stayed until the bell rang announcing the end of the day. She said goodbye and wished me a good weekend before she left. I stood from the bed when she left and stretched out a kink I felt in my back. When it was out, I was about to walk out of the room when the guy from gym came in with a wide smile. I tried to imagine that he was just a happy person as opposed to the alternative.

"So?" I shrugged.

"So what?"

"Will you go to prom with me? Before you say anything, I know you don't know me. I'm actually in the science class next door to your class. I see every day in the halls." I nodded.

"That's nice." He smiled wider.

"Name's Tyson by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

"Now that we've been introduced, what do you say? Will you go with me?" I sighed and shook my head.

"I'm flattered that you asked, but no. I'm just going with my friends."

"That's fine. We can just hang out when we get there. What kind of flowers do you like?"

"Tyson, I'm just going with my friends. You don't need to get me a corsage." Tyson looked at me a moment remorsefully and shrugged.

"Please? I made a banner and everything." He started looking at me with puppy dog eyes and it made me feel bad. I took a deep breath, reaching for the first excuse that I thought of.

"Would you still want to take me if you knew I was already engaged?" His eyes widened.

"You're engaged? To who?"

"His name is Jacob Black. He doesn't go to this school. He went to school on the reservation and he graduated a while back."

"You're engaged to an older guy?" I nodded.

"Well, sort of. He hasn't officially proposed yet, but my aunt already sent out the wedding invitations, so I'm assuming he's proposing some time soon." His eyes became confused.

"He hasn't even asked yet and your aunt is already sending out invitations?" I nodded. "Isn't that a bit presumptuous."

"More than a bit. From what I know, Jacob told my family he was going to propose, my aunt got overly excited, and so she's planning for the whole thing before he's even asked." Tyson nodded awkwardly.

"I guess that could be romantic if you already plan on saying yes." I nodded.

"I do plan on saying yes." He nodded again.

"Wow. I feel like an ass. I'd never have asked you if I'd known you were seeing someone."

"It's okay. Not many people know about me and Jacob. It's sort of a something that's kept between the family." He looked at me again with a silly smile.

"Can I at least get you a corsage? A gift from me to the happy bride?" I smiled and nodded.

"That would be very sweet of you." He grinned at last.

"Sounds good. I'll make it a nice white one."

"That's the color a bride wears."

He smiled, waved his hand and said goodbye before leaving the room. I walked out and ran to the gym to get my clothes. Once I was dressed, I went to my locker and dropped off my books and got my keys. But when I got outside, my car wasn't there. I remembered parking it near the back towards the left of the lot and now it wasn't there. Then I heard a honking noise behind me and looked over to see Jacob waiting in his car. I glanced back where my car should be, then looked at him with a suspicious smile. His smile was innocent and waiting. I walked to the car and leaned over towards the now open window.

"You wouldn't happen to know where my car is, would you?"

"Edward took it home. I wanted to pick you up. You know, like I used to before you learned how to drive."

"As long as you know where my car is." Then I let myself into the car and reached over to kiss him. He kissed me back and I stayed close to his face when I spoke again. "Daddy tells me that you had to go on patrol last night about some nomads." Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. It was no big deal. Just three newborns that were wondering around. It didn't lead to a fight or anything. We just chased them into Canada."

"As long as it wasn't serious." Jacob shook his head.

"Don't worry, Nessie. No big deal. But I do have something else I need to tell you."

"What?" Jacob smiled a little more. I think he knew that I would really like what I was about to tell him. Then I wondered if…..was he asking now?

"Lia and Felix are at the house. They're early, but they came for your graduation." Then my heart sank. I didn't show any disappointment, but I did feel a little.

"That's wonderful. When did they get here?"

"About an hour ago. Lia wanted to come get you, but told her to wait at the house."

"Why couldn't they come with you?" Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Felix couldn't tolerate being in such an enclosed space like a car with such a repulsive smell of dog in the air." I giggled and shook my head.

"Oh well. At least daddy and the others are used to it." Jacob shrugged.

"Rosalie certainly doesn't seem to be. She always scrunches her nose around me. She makes it a point to make sure I see her do it, too."

"That's because she knows it annoys you. That's why you always tell blonde jokes in front of her. You know it annoys her. You two are like siblings. You never leave each other alone." Jacob laughed without humor.

"Hardly siblings. More like the two neighbor kids that never got along." I shook my head.

"When neighbor kids don't get along, they leave each other alone." Jacob gave me a weird look.

"Have you never seen high school football? You always know which teammates are neighbors that don't like each other or if there are two guys on each side that grew up next door to each other. It's a very fueled rivalry and in a way that isn't usually friendly."

"There's the difference. Your rivalry with Rosalie is perfectly friendly. It makes me want to hit you both over the head with a frying pan, but it is friendly." Jacob laughed.

"Good luck hurting either of us with a frying pan. I've got a head like steel, Nessie." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"You just said a mouthful there, Jacob." Jacob glared at me playfully and I giggled and kissed his nose again. "I love you."

"Sure, sure." I giggled and sat back in my seat while Jacob started the car and drove to the house. When Jacob and I arrived, Lia ran over to us and hugged me when I got out.

I was shocked initially when I saw her. She'd grown so much since the last time I saw her. She actually looked like a teenager now. Or a pre-teen more appropriately. I even noticed she was growing breasts already. They were still really small, but they were there, and she reached just about to my shoulder.

"Hi, Nessie. It's been too long."

"I know. You've gotten so big." Lia giggled.

"I know. Isn't it great? I'm starting to look like a grown-up. I don't think daddy likes it too much though." I smiled.

"I think most fathers don't like it when their daughter grows up. It means she'll start being interested in boys." Lia smiled and shook her head.

"Armando and Dante are really the only guys I know, and I'm not interested in them. Dante's taken anyway." I raised an eyebrow.

"Is he?" Lia nodded.

"Yeah. Him and Amadora are dating now."

"Is that so? I didn't know they were that close." Lia nodded.

"They've always been close. They were best friends growing up and now they're dating. No one's surprised, really."

"How's Afton taking that?" Lia shrugged.

"He's not happy, doesn't think Dante's good enough. And as long as she doesn't get knocked up or anything, Demetri, Heidi, and Chelsea are fine with it." I laughed a little.

"Sounds like my parents. How long have they been seeing each other now?" Lia became thoughtful a moment.

"About four months now."

"How old are they again?" Lia giggled at Jacob's tone of voice.

"They both turn five this year." Jacob wasn't convinced at first, but then he thought about it a little, and shrugged at remembering that for half vampires, that wasn't an odd dating age. "I don't think they'll be dating long though. Dante's crazy about her, so I think he's just going to ask her to marry him or be his mate or something. He tends to be really impatient, so it wouldn't surprise me." I shrugged.

"Why wait if you're a nomad I guess." Lia nodded.

"True. But, hey, they're not what's important right now. Congratulations for graduating."

"I haven't graduated yet."

"But you will. And your dad tells us that you're going to Northwestern University, right?" I nodded.

"Yep. Chicago, Illinois." Lia pouted.

"I'm so jealous. I love Chicago. I'd live there if I had my way, but daddy doesn't want to leave Europe. He thinks Europe has more culture."

"Felix cares about that?" Lia shrugged.

"I think it's more the fact that it's stuff he grew up with and knew as a vampire. Ever since Aro and Caius were killed, we've lived primarily in Rome. That's where he lived when he was human and that's the city he loves most."

"Makes sense. You guys weren't waiting too long for me were you?" Lia shook her head.

"Not at all. Daddy was just catching up with everyone while I got acquainted with your new cousins." I smirked a little.

"Were they nice to you?" Lia shrugged.

"Valerie was nice. We played with Barbies for a while. But Ryan kept looking at me weird. When I asked Valerie if I'd done something, she just rolled her eyes and told me not to waste my time with him."

"Looking at you weird? How so?" Lia shrugged again.

"I don't know. It was sort of distant. Kind of like he was daydreaming or something." I heard Jacob start to chuckle when Lia finished talking. We both turned to look at him.

"What's so funny?" Jacob just grinned and shook his head.

"Nothing, Nessie." I shook my head.

"Not nothing, tell me." Jacob sighed with his same humored smile.

"It's pretty damn obvious if you ask me. He's just got a crush on you is all. Maybe it'll last, maybe he'll see another girl he thinks it cute and fantasias about her, but right now, he thinks your cute. All boys have that. They never admit it, but it's what's going on." Lia's eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"He has a crush on me?" Jacob nodded. "Oh no. What should I do?" Jacob shrugged.

"There's not much you can do about it right now. It would do fine to just ignore his advances if he makes any and let him lose interest in you. That might be the best route." Lia sighed.

"Okay. I don't want to cause anything." Jacob shook his head.

"Don't worry, you won't. If my time as a prepubescent boy serves me any good, he'll lose interest in no time."

"If you say so." Then Lia looked at me and smiled. "Let's go inside. Esme got me a huge bushel of apples that I'm dying to sink my teeth into." I giggled.

"Alright. I won't deprive you of your fun." She grinned and kept a hold of my hand and led me with her back into the house. Jacob followed us and played with my hair when we got to the kitchen while Lia talked to me.

Felix talked to Carlisle for the most part. He wanted to ask Carlisle what to expect as far as Lia growing. He didn't know much about me and my health, so he wanted to know if there might be anything that he might need to worry about or be concerned about. Felix was really polite about Jacob contrary to what Jacob had told me in the car. I could tell that the smell made him a little uncomfortable, but he never said a word about it. Corin and the twins showed up later in the day. I was surprised to see them so soon. I suppose all those times Esme asked Armando to undo any of Ryan's mishaps made them feel like close family. By now, Octavia and Armando were already four, so they were starting to look like teenagers too. They looked different from each other now that they were older. Amando's hair got even darker while Amadora's hair stayed the same brown color as before.

Octavia joined me and Lia in the kitchen and immediately got into the conversation. Armando stayed with Corin until Octavia called for him to come to the kitchen. Armando came as ordered and Corin followed after him sort of as a reflex. By the end of the night, Lia and Octavia were both exhausted and went to their rooms to go to bed. Corin, Armando, and Felix stayed downstairs and watched a movie with Emmett and Jasper. Jacob walked me back to the cottage so I could get ready for bed. We walked together hand in hand not really talking much. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was more like a sweet silence that didn't need to be filled because we were perfectly comfortable with not talking. When we were half way through the woods to the cottage, Jacob broke the silence.

"Nessie." I looked up at Jacob from the ground.

"Yeah, Jacob?" I realized he looked a little nervous, like there was something he……..I immediately stood more to attention and waited for the question with a big, forcefully hidden smile on my face.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." I nodded eagerly, though trying very hard not to let him see it.

"What's that?" Jacob took a deep breath.

"Okay. You know I love you, right?" I nodded. "I love you more than anything." I nodded.

"I love you too." Jacob smiled.

"So would you be mad at me if I told you that I have to work the night of your prom?" And my stomach fell again.

"Oh."

"I swear, I really wanted to take you, but the boss wants me to work late that day. Some guys from the shop are taking that day off or something." It took a moment for me to get back to reality, but when I did, I finally answered him.

"No, no, I'm not mad at you. I'll admit I'm disappointed, but it's okay."

"I'll make it up to you. Promise." I sighed.

"I know, Jacob." Jacob bent down to look at me.

"Still love me?" I smiled a little and nodded.

"Yes, I still love you." Jacob smiled and kissed me before standing straight.

"I love you too." He squeezed my hand and we continued walking to the cottage. Like usual, Jacob waited in my room while I got ready for bed. When I was done, I went to my room and laid down in bed next to Jacob and fell asleep in his arms.

My last month of school seemed to go by slowly. Excruciatingly so. There were so many moments through that month were Jacob would get flustered, I'd think he was about to ask me to marry him, then it turns out he's telling me bad news about something or other. Half the time, the bad news didn't even apply to either of us. I never said anything about it, but it was beginning to get on my nerves. I wondered if he was just toying with me or something.

Family and friends started coming for my graduation about three days before hand. Demetri, Heidi, and Dante came with Amadora, Chelsea, and Afton around that time. As did the Denalis, Nahuel and his family, Siobhan and her coven, a few of Garret's nomad friends, Austin and Mary as well as Jasper's friends, Peter and Charlotte. I wasn't expecting them to come in truth. I never thought I'd left enough of an impression on them to make them want to come to my graduation. I was even more surprised when Alistair came. I always thought he didn't like me. I knew he could hear me and Jacob whenever we made fun of his accent whenever he was around. I found it strange that he would care that I was graduating.

Lia was thrilled to see Ada-María again. It'd been a while since they'd seen each other and they enjoyed endless hours of playing together. I was stunned with how fast Ada-María had grown. She couldn't be any older than two and she already looked about my age. It seemed that since she had more vampire in her, the growing process was half the time. Marcelo was happy to see me too. When they first arrived, Ada-María hugged me really quickly, then went right to Lia who was eager to see her too. Yaretzi smiled and hugged me tightly with her sisters, even Citclali, hugging me in a row and Rafael gave me a firm hand shake and congratulations. When Marcelo finally had a chance to talk to me, his eyes were thrilled and I could almost feel Jacob's watching eyes.

"Renesmee. Somehow, you become more beautiful every time I see you." I smiled and hugged Marcelo.

"How nice of you. It's great to see you again, Marcelo. It's been a long time." He nodded.

"Far too long. Honestly, you never make an effort to call me." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"It's kind of hard to. You don't have a cell phone."

"I have no need for a cell phone. Cell phones are for people that wish to make their lives hectic. I prefer to keep my life simple and beautiful."

"You're so arrogant, it hurts sometimes. Do you know that?" He shrugged with his usual smile.

"What's your point?"

"My point is that you're a douche." Marcelo laughed and shook his head at me.

"Such cruel words, Renesmee. Why must you hurt me so?" I shrugged.

"Why do you raise to the occasion?" I threw his comeback right back at him and he chuckled and nodded approvingly.

"So true, Renesmee. But on a serious note, I'm ecstatic to see you again. I really did miss you." I smiled sincerely.

"I missed you too, Marcelo." Then Marcelo took me in a hug again and I heard daddy his from the kitchen.

"Do it Marcelo, and so help me god, you won't have hands anymore." Marcelo chuckled and let me go. Jacob glared at him suspiciously and I looked at Marcelo quizzically.

"What were you about to do?" Marcelo shrugged and tried to look innocent. "What were you about to do, Marcelo?" I said it this time with a little more force. He grinned at me.

"I simply wanted to give your bum a little squeeze, but I suppose that's in bad taste to Americans." My eyes widened.

"It's in bad taste in any country. You don't do that." Marcelo sighed.

"I suppose you're right. Forgive my rudeness." Marcelo was about to hug me when daddy spoke again, this time from right behind me with Jacob standing right next to him.

"My threat still stands Marcelo."

"Of course, Edward." Marcelo didn't hug me and went somewhere else. Daddy went back to the kitchen with momma while Jacob looked after Marcelo with a scowl on his face.

During the month before graduation, it was nice to have Dante and the others back. I always liked them and it was nice to see all of them again and not have it be under bad circumstances. Dante spent most of the time watching something with Emmett and Jasper or Felix and Demetri or whatever. But three times a week, he would take control of the remote and watch something on the food network. First he would watch Chopped, then Top Chef on Bravo, then finally, Iron Chef America. And Amadora always watched them with him even though cooking shows never interested her as much.

"I never thought a vampire would love watching something that he doesn't think tastes good." Amadora shrugged.

"It's just his thing. I think he just likes the competition or something. He usually watches this stuff in a Best Buy or something while the attendants aren't looking." Amadora smiled. "When he's not watching the food channel, he's usually playing his violin." I nodded. I'd heard Dante play whenever he was here. He always had his violin with him in a large protective case with a red velvet lining on the inside. He was an excellent violinist, especially for a person that was self trained.

"Do you think he'll ever want to make a career of that?" Amadora shrugged.

"He certainly could, but I don't know. I doubt Dante would want to join an orchestra. I will say, though, I think he would do wonders for the Trans Siberian Band or something. He could even get into The Royal College of Music in London without even trying if he wanted to." Dante shrugged and Amadora smiled and patted his head.

"Then I'd have to take other classes besides just orchestra. And what if I get stuck in a class full of cocky know-it-alls that think they're the shit because they can pluck a few strings on the violin?" I shrugged.

"Welcome to my world. I've had more classmates than I care to count that I just wish I could hit over the head with a book because they think they're so much smarter than everyone because they're in AP classes." Dante smiled in humor.

"That's why I don't ever want to go to school. Being a nomad and befriending random vampires is just fine with me." We smiled and Amadora rested her head on Dante's shoulder. I glanced over at Afton and saw him make a slight grimace at Dante before turning his attention back to Chelsea.

When it was finally the big day, Alice had me up early so she could start making me up and pick out the perfect dress for me. Somehow, she'd found out about the Prom theme, so she had a dress and hairstyle picked out for that night and everything. I stopped trying to figure out who was telling her all this. I knew it wasn't daddy. And Jacob and Alice didn't have much of a gossip relationship, not even when she was cutting his hair.

"Oh, Nessie, you're finally graduating. This is so exciting." I shrugged.

"You've been through this a million times. I don't know why you're so excited."

"It's always exciting when someone graduates. Just because you've done it multiple times doesn't make it any less memorable."

"I think graduating over a period of fifty years give or take would take away the magic of the moment, don't you think, Alice." Then Alice hit my head with two of her fingers. I looked over at her and she was giving me a stern look and I sighed. "Alright, I'll shut up." Then Alice smiled.

"Thank you honey." Momma smiled and walked back over to us.

"You don't need to push her, Alice."

"Bella, you and Nessie are the same in this respect. If it weren't for me, the two of you would always be in jeans and a t-shirt. And I won't have it." Momma and I rolled our eyes together and said nothing.

Everyone that was staying at our house were waiting downstairs with daddy, Carlisle, Emmett, Ryan, and Jasper. When I was finally ready, we all went downstairs and took several cars to school. We managed to get some parking spaces in the school. But a few parents needed to park in the residential areas near the school. When we got there, my family took their seats and I went to my seat near the front with all the other Cs.

The ceremony started with the principle giving a speech about our class and a few things that happened this year and how proud he was of our teams winning all their games and money for the school. He also announced that the school was planning to start construction on a new science wing. I thought that was a bit silly to tell us since we wouldn't be here to see it. When the principle said his piece, some other teachers came to the podium and spoke about the year and that they were proud of us for moving on. Once the teachers were done talking, the principle invited up the valedictorian of the class to speak. I was glad April Vern was the valedictorian. She was one of the few AP kids that I knew who was actually nice to me and sincerely deserved to be in NHS, at least in my opinion. She worked for her grades and didn't brag about them. I appreciated that.

Once all the announcements and speeches were made, the principle came back to the podium and announced the names of the senior class. Once he got to my name, he added to the usual announcement, letting everyone know that I was the first student to graduate as a junior in fifteen years. While I walked up, I heard people cheering. I looked over and saw Jacob with Billy seated in his wheelchair next to him and half the pack sitting in the gym with Sam and Emily with their children and Kim and Claire and all the others along with my family. I also saw Madison and Aida and all my junior friends sitting in the rows waving at me. Aida was smiling, but no more than that. Waving and cheering wasn't really her thing. I smiled at them all, accepted my diploma and hurriedly made my way back to my seat.

When my row was declared, we took our seats and watched as the next row of students went up to get their diplomas. After a good thirty minutes of announcing names, the principle looked at us all and presented us to the parents as the graduating class of 2014. The graduates, along with me, all threw our hats in the air ceremoniously and I managed to catch my hat and was relieved I didn't lose the tassel. I wanted to keep that. Then the parents and students reunited with one another and talked about the ceremony. I weaseled my way through the other people until I reached momma and daddy, who were waiting to give me a hug. Carlisle and all the others were right behind them waiting to congratulate me.''

"Congratulations honey." I smiled.

"Thanks daddy." They hugged me tightly until Esme pushed through and hugged me once momma and daddy let go of me. Then Rosalie did the same. The cycle continued until Jacob and the pack managed to get to me. Jacob hugged me tightly, kissed me really quickly, then lifted me up so my arm was resting on his shoulders and I was facing everyone.

"Let's hear it for Renesmee." Jacob announced and everyone applauded and sang their praise. I blushed and cuddled my cheek onto Jacob's head before he put me down. When he put me down, Madison forced her way through and hugged me tightly. Aida and all were behind her waiting for their turn to talk to me.

"Oh, Nessie. I'm so happy for you. But I'm so sad to see you go. You have to promise to e-mail me every day and write to me and send me postcards and everything. I patted Madison's back.

"I will, Madison."

"Hey, Mads, give someone else a chance to congratulate her." Then, without warning, Aida spanked Madison and made her leap off me to cover her butt.

"What was that for?!" Aida ignored her and walked closer to me. Once she was close, she sighed.

"I'm about to do something that I never do, ever, for anyone. Not even my mom."

"And what's that?" Aida was still a moment before she closed the distance and hugged me. Then she patted my back.

"I'll miss you, Nessie." Then she let go of me. We looked at each other a moment in silence. "That was really weird." I shrugged.

"Don't worry. You don't have to do it again."

"Thanks." She smiled slightly and took a step back for anyone else that wanted to hug me and say how much they'd miss me. Before leaving, I was sure to walk over to April and congratulate her too. I was pleased to find that Alice had invited her to my graduation party and that she was going to that. I let her know that I looked forward to seeing her and walked away to get ready to leave.

Accepting Jacob and his family and pack, no one in my party really ate, so we didn't stop by a restaurant like everyone else. Grandpa hugged me and told me he was proud of me before going with one of his friends to the restaurant and wished for me to have fun at the party Alice was having for me later. I went home in Jacob's car with Seth, Embry, and Alyssa. When we got back, Alice got started on all the last minute decorations and Esme and momma got to work on getting all the food out. People would start showing up in about an hour.

When an hour passed, I started hearing cars start to flood in. There were already a lot of people in the house from the family that came to my graduation, so when the guests from school came, the house seemed to pack up like a night club. Alice had the housing looking like just that. Aida found me immediately with Zeppelin on her arm. She stayed next to me for most of the party. Madison stayed close to me too and talked to everyone while holding onto my arm. I lost track of Jacob for a few minutes and I tried looking for him. Then I finally found him and excused myself from Madison's grasp to run over to him. Jacob grinned and opened his arms to me. I went straight to him and took him in a hug that he happily returned.

"I was beginning to feel neglected out here, Nessie." I smiled and kissed his chest.

"Sorry. I had guests to entertain." I spoke in a teasing voice. Then I looked up at him with my most loving eyes. "Forgive me?" Jacob smiled.

"How can I not?" I smiled wider and he leaned down and kissed me.

"Where is everyone?"

"Sam and Emily left. They took Alison Shea too. They didn't want the kids to be in such a large group. Emily was worried they'd get hurt. Jared and Kim are still here, though. I think they're dancing." Jacob leaned closer and rested his forehead on mine. "You want to know a secret?"

"What?"

"Jared can't dance to save his life." I giggled.

"Is that a fact?" He nodded. "He did perfectly fine at their wedding." Jacob shrugged.

"That was a slow song. All he did was sway back and forth."

"And I suppose you can do better?"

"I never said that." I started laughing and Jacob laughed with me. "I can dance to Michael Jackson songs, but that's as good as I get." I gave Jacob a weird look with my smile.

"You can dance to Michael Jackson songs of all things?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. Anyone can if you've seen enough of his music videos. Just copy Michael and you're solid." I laughed again.

"Does that include the ugly eighties clothes."

"Duh. You can't dance the eighties without giant shoulder pads and tennis shoes and rolled up jeans. It wouldn't be right. And you've got to have the Members Only jackets. It's against eighties fashion laws to not have one of those." I shook my head.

"You weren't even around during the eighties."

"Neither were you. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate it. It's a pretty memorable generation."

"That's true." Jacob grinned and kissed my nose. I kissed his nose back and pulled him with me back to where Madison and the others were waiting for me to come back. Except for Aida, they looked surprised. I assumed it was because of Jacob.

As we were walking, a slower song came on. It was a song by Aerosmith if I recalled correctly. I could tell Emmett and Felix were in control of the music. From what Lia told me Aerosmith was Felix' favorite band. There were several reasons why I found that surprising, then several more reasons why it wasn't that surprising at all. I would never expect him to be a fan of a rock band, but then again, Classical music didn't seem to be something he would be all that into. Lia even knew that Dude Looks Like A Lady and Walk This Way were his two all time favorites. But right now, they were playing a slow favorite. Several couples were already dancing. Zeppelin and Aida took a spot off to the side. I doubted they'd slow dance to Aerosmith.

"You want to dance, Nessie?" I looked up at Jacob and smiled.

"I thought you didn't dance." Jacob shrugged.

"For anyone else, no. For you, sure." Then Jacob pulled me a little closer to him and swayed. It wasn't really to the beat of the music, but I didn't care.

I didn't pay attention to any of the other party guests that surrounded me anymore. I just wanted to concentrate on Jacob and the smell of his skin. Jacob rested his cheek on the top of my head and placed my hands on his shoulders before wrapping his hands around my waist. Towards the end of the song, Jacob nudged my face with his nose to get me to look at him. When I did, he took my lips in a kiss and we kissed until the song ended. Jacob stopped when Felix put on Walk This Way.

"I love this song."

"Me too."

I heard Emmett start laughing and looked over to see Rosalie start dancing. People moved aside when they saw her and she started dancing down the line to the song. Alice followed and soon, all my guests were following their lead too. It made the song seem literal, but it was fun. Garret pulled Kate with him to join in the song too. Kate tried to get away from the floor, but Garret simply wouldn't let her and they danced to the song like they would if it were still the eighties. I think if anyone else were to try that, Kate would rip them to shreds regardless of all the people around them. But since it was Garret, she simply gritted her teeth and tolerated it.

I couldn't fight a laugh when I saw Alistair. He was sitting in the corner ignoring a girl from the sophomore class that was flirting with him. It was wrong enough that someone was flirting with Alistair of all people. But the look on his face was priceless. He looked angry like no other that he was being inconvenienced, but he also knew that there were a bunch of wolves and vampires that wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to attack him if he harmed the girl talking to him. I think he wanted to get rid of her by telling her that he didn't care about what she was saying, but I think his heavy British accent was his undoing. Some women simply couldn't refuse a British accent. There were hundreds of accents that were more attractive than a British one, but that was my taste I suppose.

I saw April Vern dancing alongside Alice to the song having as grand a time as anyone. They kept dancing even when the song was changed. I was relieved my guests enjoyed the eighties music my uncle was playing. It was just the kind of music that was easy to dance to and you didn't even need to be good. Even Aida and Zeppelin danced when eighties music played, but only when it was upbeat as opposed to slow songs. Marcelo snuck up at one point and put Latin music into the mix. I was surprised no one noticed that it was Shakira's music, but in Spanish. As long as they were having fun, it didn't really matter.

By the time everyone left, it was close to midnight and they were only leaving because some of them would need to get up early for spa appointments of some kind to get ready for Prom tomorrow. Once all the guests left, it took Alice and Esme mere minutes to clean the house of all the trash and spills that happened during the party. Jacob walked me back to the cottage and we talked about the party and that he'd had a really good time as did the other pack members.

"You know, I never knew Alice could throw a party that good. It was like a night club."

"I'm pretty sure that was the point. I'm glad you had fun, though." Jacob chuckled.

"How could I not. I haven't heard Aerosmith songs in years. It was nice to hear it and dance to it without being the only one that looked like a dork doing it." I smiled.

"You didn't look like a dork. It was a little dorky when you and Quil and Embry started dancing together to Thriller, but it was still cute." Jacob laughed.

"Nessie, its Thriller. It's almost against the law not to dance to that song. It's one of Michael Jackson's best songs in my opinion. Second only to Beat It if you ask me." I giggled and shook my head.

"Sometimes I think you wish you could've been around during the eighties." Jacob nodded.

"I do sometimes. I've told you that. The only issue is that I would've wanted to be a teenager in the eighties if that were the case. That means I would've needed to be born in the early seventies. That means I would've been forty by now. I doubt we could've ended up together if that were the case."

"I don't know. As long as you became a wolf still and everything with momma and daddy still happened, you still would've imprinted on me."

"Yeah, but I'd be over thirty years older than you. That's a little weird, don't you think?" I shrugged.

"No weirder than you being eighteen years older than me. I mean, I'm turning six this year and you're turning twenty four this year. That's a little weird in itself."

"Yeah, but eighteen years is better than thirty." I looked at Jacob, shook my head, and hugged him.

"Well, Jacob, if it's any constellation, I would've loved you, even if you were forty and having a midlife crisis." Jacob chuckled and hugged me back.

"I'm glad to hear that, Nessie." Jacob and I were silent for a while before he kissed the top of my head and spoke, but what he said was really weird. "I can't wait until Bella turns thirty." My eyes shot open and I looked up at him.

"Why? It's not like momma's aging." Jacob shrugged.

"I know. But thirty's one of those ages where some women freak out and stuff. I just can't wait to remind her that she turned thirty when it happens."

"You'll be turning thirty the year after that."

"I know. But when she's thirty, I'll still be twenty nine. And when she's fifty, I'll only be forty nine. I just thought it would be fun to tease her." I rolled my eyes.

"You want to know the best part about that, Jacob."

"What?" I grinned.

"When you're forty nine, I'll still only be thirty one." Jacob gave me a playful glare.

"Thirty one isn't that great."

"It's better than forty nine. And when I'm forty nine, it'll be better than sixty seven, which is what you'll be. Isn't that exciting?"

"Can we stop talking about when I'm old."

"Why? It's not like you'll be aging. Your wolf prevents that."

"That's not the point. The point is I don't want to talk about the day when I'll be an old man, even if I'll still look like I'm twenty." I rolled my eyes.

"You know, Jacob, most men would kill for the chance to keep their youth in their old age."

"True, but they usually have mal intentions."

"Not always. Maybe they just want to look good for their wives."

"That's what plastic surgery's for, Nessie." I sighed. "Ha ha, I win."

"You didn't win. I'm just sick of arguing about this." Jacob shook his head.

"No, I won. Admit it, I won an argument."

"Fine, Jacob. You won the argument. But savor the feeling, because for the rest of our lives, you're going to be wrong, even when you're right."

"I know. Sam and Paul already warned me about that."

"Glad you're prepared." Jacob chuckled and I smiled as we walked hand in hand the rest of the way to the cottage.

Jacob spent the night with me and held me while I slept. Because of my graduation, he was letting the pack take some time off. Alice didn't foresee any problems, but if anything came up, they would definitely be ready. When I woke up, Jacob wasn't there, but there was a note from him on my night stand. It simply said, _'I had to go to work, hope you have fun at prom, I love you, Jacob'_. I glanced at the clock to see it was 11:00 o'clock. I forced myself out of bed and went straight to the house, knowing Alice would want to start getting me ready within two hours or so. Prom started officially at nine, but Madison and the others were going to the prom dinner that was before hand and that started at five. I wasn't going to eat anything, but Alice reasoned that I should spend plenty of time with everyone since I would be leaving for Chicago in the fall.

Alice took me with her to her room when I got there so I could finally see the dress she'd gotten for me and the shoes she'd picked to go with them. As I suspected, it was a dress that was inspired by a Marilyn Monroe original, but it was made beautiful and modern. It was inspired by the pink dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but it wasn't as long and it didn't have gloves. That alone sent a feeling of relief through me like no other. It still had the bow like the original, but it was smaller. The band was visible and would wrap around the smallest part of my waist and tie into a little bow on the back. The bow was still big, but it looked more demure. Each lope was about the size of my fist I'd say. And the shoes were strappy rhinestone sandals that would make me a good four inches taller. That would make me reach up to 5' 9" give or take.

"Wow." Alice smiled.

"What, did you think I'd try to put you in a Marilyn Monroe original? You're too slender for a dress like that. But this will look stunning on you."

"I love it."

"Of course you do. Who knows you better than your Aunty Alice." I could've answered that, but I didn't want to ruin Alice's moment.

"What were you planning to do with my hair?"

"I was planning to put it in a little French twist or something along those lines. You'll be wearing a lot of diamonds with this dress." I rolled my eyes.

"Way to carry out a theme, Alice." Alice giggled.

"Oh come on. Of course you'll be wearing diamonds. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, remember." I laughed Alice at her joke and we went back downstairs and waited another hour before going back up to get me ready.

Alice had me in my dress and makeup first. She wanted to go with a classic style, so I was wearing some eyeliner and mascara on my eyes, and a bold red lipstick. That took no time. What took a while was my hair. Alice and Rosalie were arguing over what would look better. Alice was saying I should have it up since I was wearing so much jewelry. I was wearing long diamond dangling earrings and a diamond necklace that just forced you to look. I was even wearing diamond bracelets. It seemed a bit over the top for me considering it was just prom, but I didn't argue. Rosalie wanted to let my hair down since it was beautiful all on its own. They finally agreed to have my hair pulled back, but instead of a French twist, my hair was simply pulled back with diamond barrettes and my curls were free and hung loose from there.

"Oh, Nessie, you look perfect." Alice was smiling enthusiastically.

"You'll definitely be a heartbreaker." Rosalie was smiling too and playing with my free curls. Momma wasn't being as held back as I thought she would be. Normally she'd tell Alice that this was too much. Far too much. But right now, she was just smiling.

"You look beautiful, honey."

"Thanks momma." Alice grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"We better get you to Madison's house. Her mom called and said the limo was picking you guys up there." Alice led me with her to her car and lifted me into her arms to carry me so I wouldn't get mud on my shoes. When everyone saw 4'9" Alice pick me up, there wasn't a dry eye in the house, per se.

Alice rushed me to Madison's house and practically pushed me out of the car and drove away as soon as I was. Madison was thrilled to see me and hugged me tightly and drooled over my dress, jewelry, and hair. A few minutes later, the limo showed up at her house and we got in and started picking up all the other people in our party. One of those people was Aida, as I insisted. Zeppelin would be there waiting for us in his car.

Once we had all the people of our party, we went to the only semi-high class restaurant in town and ate. I did the best I could to hide the food. At first, I tried giving it to Aida, but she pushed it away. Then I tried giving it to Zeppelin. He looked at me weird a moment, but other than that, he didn't question me and ate all the pieces of food I sneaked onto his plate. Thankfully, no one noticed. Once everyone finished eating, we stayed for an hour waiting for the limo driver to get back to take us to the school for prom. Once we got to school, we went straight to the gym and started getting into the music.

Aida and Zeppelin stayed next to the punch table and talked to each other, not really paying attention to anyone else. Normally she would invite me to talk to her, but right now she seemed to want to be alone with Zeppelin. It was really odd. Since Aida seemed to be preoccupied for the most part, I stuck with Madison and let her pull me around by the arm and show me off to the other guys. I felt strange being so made up. It was more than I've ever done, even for a wedding. But the guys from my graduating class enjoyed it.

"Way to go with the theme, Nessie." I shrugged.

"That's my aunt for you."

"It kind of looks like the dress from the posters." I nodded.

"For the most part. It's a revision of the dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." They gave me a weird look. "It's a movie with Marilyn Monroe. She's also in Some Like It Hot." They still didn't know what I was talking about. "Never mind."

"So, anyway, Nessie, who's your date?"

"I didn't bring one." The one I was talking to, Ben, gave me a pout.

"That's a shame. I thought Tyson was asking you."

"I said no."

"That's a shame. After all that trouble he put in, you said no." I ignored the back handed joke and smiled.

"He understood. So who did you bring?" He shrugged.

"Amber. But I lost her somewhere. She's probably just hanging out with her friends. You'd think they hadn't seen each other in years the way the reunite after just a day." I shrugged.

"Some people are just like that I suppose." Madison came into the conversation.

"Well, you two should dance since your date's busy. And I know you must be bored, Nessie." I shook my head.

"No, that's not necessary." I wanted to remind Madison that I was technically engaged already, but then again, I wasn't supposed to know about it.

"Oh, come on, Nessie. I could use the company. Just one song." I looked at Ben, sighed, and shrugged.

"Alright. I guess." Ben smiled and brought his hand out to take mine. I smiled a little and took his and let him lead me to the dance floor with everyone else. I noticed Shannon and her friends glaring at me. I figured it had to do with the graduation party I had yesterday and let it go.

"Nessie." I looked over my shoulder and saw Aida standing there."

"Yeah?"

"Come over here, I want to talk to you a moment." Before I could respond, Aida took my arm and led me with her to the punch table where she and Zeppelin were standing.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing."

"What? You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Don't dance with Ben. There."

"Why are you acting weird….er than usual?"

"No reason." I was about to argue more, but I sighed and let it go. I sat against the punch table and stood there absentmindedly. Ben walked back over to me, and Aida was suddenly talking. "So as I was saying, Nessie, you need to remember to e-mail me while you're away. There's nothing more annoying than a bitch that says she'll call and never does. You know what they call that, Nessie? A cock tease." I gave Aida a weird look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about you being a good friend and e-mailing me and calling while you're away. We can't very well hang out when you're all the way in Show-Me-State, Illinois."

"Missouri's the Show-Me-State."

"Don't correct me, I know what I'm talking about. And further more…" Aida kept talking on and on until Ben walked away again. As soon as he was gone, Aida turned her attention back to Zeppelin.

"What?" She looked at me.

"What, what?"

"You were talking."

"Duh, to Zeppelin. He's going out of town soon and I was telling him he needed to call me when he was away." I looked at her a moment in silence and took a deep breath to keep myself from yelling at her.

"Whatever, Aida." Aida turned her attention back to Zeppelin and I started looking around with wondering eyes again.

I looked across the gym and noticed that Ben was with Amber now. She looked like she was upset about something and was yelling at him. I turned my eyes away from them and kept looking at people around the gym. Everyone was on the dance floor dancing or talking to each other while moving minimally. A couple minutes went by and I was getting extremely bored. I looked up at the clock in the gym and groaned when it was only nine. Prom wasn't due to end until two in the morning. Madison and her limo were my only ride and my phone had run out of batteries. I could run home, but that would be odd. And Alice would kill me if I ran home and ruined a perfectly good pair of shoes. What was sad was that I would be mad at myself for it too. These were nice shoes.

I started looking toward my right near the entrance of the gym and saw nothing that was interesting or out of the ordinary. I saw someone's silhouette as they walked in, but that was about it. But then I realized who it was. It was Jacob. My eyes widened in surprise, not that I was upset. He was wearing a tux and everything with a little plastic box in his hand that could only be a corsage. I ran over to him, pushing through all the people between us and hugged him tight when I finally got to him.

"I thought you had to work." Jacob nodded.

"I lied." I giggled.

"I can see that." I lifted my face from his chest to look up at him. He looked happier tonight than I'd ever seen him before. I smiled back. "You even wore a tux." Jacob chuckled.

"This and our wedding day. Those are the only two days you will ever see me wearing a tux in my life." I giggled. "My god, how tall is you right now?" Jacob was still a head above me, but he didn't have to bend down much if he wanted to kiss me this time.

"About 5'8", 5'9". It's the high heels."

"I figured at much." I smiled and Jacob bent down his head and kissed me. When we parted, he kissed my nose. "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you. You look so handsome." Jacob smiled.

"I thought your prom deserved me looking my best, even if it meant wearing a tux. That's how much I love you." I giggled and kissed his nose.

"I'm so lucky." Jacob grinned and kissed me again. Then I felt someone tap my shoulder. I looked over and saw Madison.

"Hey, Nessie. Aren't you going to introduce me." I tried to not get annoyed with Madison for interrupting me and Jacob.

"This is Jacob." Madison's expression didn't change at first, but then something clicked in her head.

"Oh. Jacob. Wow. I bet you two want to be alone. I'll talk to you later, Nessie." I smiled.

"Yeah. Talk to you later." Then I turned my attention back to Jacob while Madison walked away. Then I heard the song change. It was She Wolf, which I normally wouldn't find odd. But when I turned around to pull Jacob with me to the dance floor, I saw Aida leaving the DJ stand and rolled my eyes.

When we got to the dance floor, Jacob and I swayed together. It wasn't really to the music. I think it was a little faster than what Jacob was comfortable with that wasn't eighties. I kept my head on his chest for most of the song listening to his heartbeat. It was the best music of all. And when I combined it with the music, it worked perfectly. When that song ended, another slow song for the night came on and Jacob and I kept swaying with no change to our pace.

"Jacob." Jacob grunted, letting me know I had his attention. "I'm curious. Who did you go to prom with when you were in high school?" Jacob shook his head.

"I never really went to prom. I went to Bella's prom once, but that was just because Billy paid me to tell her to stay away from Edward. You saw how well that worked out." I giggled at Jacob's joke.

"Did you at least get paid?" Jacob nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, he paid me. He was really annoyed when it didn't work and Bella and Edward spent just about every waking moment together that summer, but that wasn't my fault. Bella's stubborn." I smiled and stayed silent a moment to breath Jacob in. I was relieved that he wasn't wearing cologne. It was just him and his woodsy scent.

"You really never went to prom?" Jacob nodded. "Why not?" Jacob shrugged.

"I never really wanted to. I hated the idea of going without a date. Embry and Quil wanted to bring me, but they both had dates, so I would've been the fifth wheel. It's not really that fun."

"Why didn't you ask someone? It's not like you couldn't get a date." Jacob chuckled.

"I had an awkward stage too, Nessie. When I could go to my first prom, I was so damn scrawny and tall that no girl wanted me." I giggled.

"You were sixteen or so. That's hardly a man's best looking age."

"I know. But one girl I asked said I reminded her of a bean pole or something and that she didn't want to go with me." I gasped over exaggeratingly.

"That bitch." Jacob chuckled.

"It's okay, it can't be helped. She was one of those hot girls that always date douche bags."

"Oh. In that case, you didn't stand a chance." Jacob laughed again and rested his forehead against mine.

"Exactly. I was really picky back then, so it wasn't easy for me to find a date anyway."

"Picky, huh. Once again, sixteen isn't always a girl's best years. You shouldn't be so picky." Jacob chuckled again.

"I don't really need to be anymore anyway. I've got you." I smiled and reached up to kiss him.

"That's very true." Jacob nodded.

"And you're better than any woman I could pick myself."

"You're better than any other guy I could ever end up with." Jacob grinned.

"I like to think so." I smiled and Jacob kissed me again. When we parted, he said something random. "I don't have red on my lips do I?" I was silent a moment before answering.

"No. Don't worry, its non-smear lipstick. It won't get on you."

"Okay, good. I don't want to have red on my lips." Then he kissed me again.

We danced together for a few more songs, not really talking. We looked each other and kissed several times. I was relieved that no one tried coming over asking to cut in or anything. During one of the songs, Jacob lifted me so that I was standing on his shoes and moving with him. I smiled and followed his lead. A few songs later when he put me down, I opened my eyes and saw that we were near the entrance of the gym. I hadn't even realized we were moving away.

"Let's go sit on that bench. I'm sick of dancing." I smiled.

"Sure."

Jacob grinned and we walked together to the little bunch that was under an umbrella like structure made with climbing flowers. I assumed this was something they'd gotten for prom night. I didn't remember ever seeing this thing before. When we took out seats, Jacob and I were silent a moment. Jacob and I were holding our hands together in one mass between us with our foreheads rested against each other. We kissed from time to time and were always smiling at each other, but that was it. It didn't seem needed to talk.

Jacob took my lips in another sweet kiss. It was slightly more passionate than the others. It lasted longer. We simply moved our lips together and Jacob licked my lips once before returning to the previous action. When he broke the kiss, he smiled at me again and I smiled back.

"I love you so much, Renesmee." I smiled a little wider.

"I love you too, Jacob."

"Before you, nothing made sense. Everything happening to me was always one pain after another. I'd never really been happy before. With everything that happened and everything that I went through, I was never really truly happy. But that's not the case anymore. Because of you, everything makes sense again.

"My life took on a real meaning and purpose. I finally felt needed. Honestly needed. And I felt loved. A love I've never felt before for or from anyone. It was requited, unconditional love. I never realized how far I was from that until I finally had you.

"And now that I have you, I don't know how I would ever live without you. I don't think I could. If anything, I'd be an empty shell of a man without you. And I want us to belong to one another in every way possible."

My eyes widened when it really hit home what he was doing. I was holding my breath now, waiting impatiently for what I knew was coming. Jacob kissed me again and I gladly fell into his kiss. Then I felt something on my left ring finger knowing already what it was without a doubt in my mind. I realized I was already crying, but I didn't let that distract me even for a second. I wanted to savor every moment of what I could now call the best day of my life. When he took his lips away, I didn't open my eyes at first. I think I was scared to open them and see that this wasn't really happening, even though I knew it was.

"Renesmee, love of my life, my best friend, my heart, and soul." I could really feel the tears now. "Will you marry me?" I couldn't answer at first. I'd opened my eyes, saw the ring, and just burst into tears.

I hardly ever cried, but this was a moment where I could care less if I was. The ring was wonderful. It was everything I could ever dream of and more. But it wasn't the ring that was important, as beautiful as it was. He'd finally asked me. I knew he would. No matter how much I tried to push it from my mind, I knew it would happen. But in making myself try to forget about it, I didn't notice anything strange about Jacob being so happy. I didn't notice that his left hand had been in his pocket whenever he wasn't holding me. Even with me knowing, he'd managed to take me off guard and that's what really made the proposal special, and everything weird about tonight full into place and finally made sense.

"Renesmee?" Jacob said my name in his most loving voice. I forced my face out of my hands to look at him. I was so grateful Alice had me in waterproof makeup, otherwise, I'd have eyeliner and mascara all over my face.

"Yes." Jacob smiled wider than I'd ever seen him grin.

"Yes?" I nodded.

"Yes. Yes, I'll marry you, Jacob." Then, without a care in the world, I fell into his arms and kissed him with everything I had. I heard someone clapping in the background, but completely ignored them. I didn't want to move away from Jacob.

"Balls, would you two get a room?" I ignored Aida at first. I heard her sigh, but ignored her. Then I felt something land on my lap. I took my lips away and my eyes widened. "Trust me, Nessie, that shit's good. It's a condom that feels like it's not even there. And if you use KY Hers and His, I guarantee the best orgasm of your life. I have them in my purse, so I'd be willing to lend it to you. But I want it back, got it?"

Neither of us answered. We just kept staring at the Trojans Aida'd just thrown in my lap.

"And don't give me that, I'm already on the pill crap. Need I remind you of my .001% little brother, Hailey, that's due this month?" Finally, I looked up at Aida.

"Aida, can we have a moment's peace?!" Aida smiled at the tone in my voice and nodded.

"Sorry. Far be it from me to be a good friend and make sure you don't get knocked up. I'll see you at the wedding." Then Aida walked away and went right back to Zeppelin. I overheard her telling him that they needed to go buy more condoms before going back to his place. Jacob and I finally looked at each other and he was trying really hard to smile normally.

"Way to kill the mood, huh?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I might kill her for it." Jacob laughed a little and I smiled.

"You can't do that. Isn't she supposed to be your maid of honor or something?"

"I can choose a new one. Maybe Lia or Ada-María." Jacob smiled.

"I think Alice already made Lia a bridesmaid."

"Of course. I would tell her to do so if she hadn't." Jacob smiled and rested my forehead on mine. We looked at each other a moment in silence before I spoke. "Everyone knew you were proposing tonight, didn't they?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah." I smiled and shook my head.

"That does explain a lot."

"I'm glad to hear that. Edward even said I could take you back to my place. He expects you to be a virgin tomorrow, but it's still nice of him to let us have that alone time." I sighed and was about to say something, but Jacob kissed me silent. "Don't worry, Nessie. Unless you say otherwise, the wedding was going to be this summer. Alice has been planning this wedding since the day I decided I wanted to propose before you left." I smiled.

"Really?" He nodded.

"Yeah. And she can always change anything you don't like. And everyone who came to your graduation is staying for the wedding too."

"So that's why they had so much stuff with them."

"Yep. That's why. They need nice clothes after all. And there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What's that?" He breathed.

"I was hoping you'd be okay with the ceremony being traditional to Quileute wedding ceremonies. You remember what it's like right?" I smiled and nodded.

Indeed I remembered. Sam and Emily had a traditional Quileute wedding. So did Paul and Rachael, and Kim and Jared. Their weddings had been traditional with a few modern exceptions. Normally, instead of rings, the bride and groom would exchange necklaces laced with rock, feather, and some corn to represent the strength and loyalty of their marriage as well as to wish fertility to the wife. They'd still done that, but they also exchanged the rings. And they did their vows in front of us instead of around a fire. The fire was saved for later during the reception.

"That would be wonderful."

"Really?" I nodded.

"Of course. It's only right. Who would perform the ceremony."

"Billy or Quil Sr. They're not priests, but they're as close as we've got. I think it would be more appropriate that Billy do it." I smiled.

"Of course." Jacob laughed about something. "What?" He shook his head.

"Nothing. I just remembered something that I'm traditionally supposed to do."

"And that would be?"

"I'm supposed to wait on your mother hand and foot for a while to show my devotion to you and your family." I couldn't fight a laugh.

"Are you planning to do that?" Jacob shrugged.

"If she wants me to I guess. It would wait until after the honeymoon, though. I'm glad we're going off tradition with that part."

"Why? What's a honeymoon traditionally like?" Jacob shrugged.

"We wouldn't get a honeymoon per se. Traditionally, we would just be provided with lots of alone time so I could give you our first child." I giggled.

"Is that so?" He nodded.

"Yeah. That's why we'd be getting so much corn and fish. It's a superstition that's supposed to please the gods and make them want to get you pregnant." I smiled.

"Then we should try it when we're ready for kids." Jacob grinned.

"Sure." We smiled again and kissed for a few seconds. Jacob ended the kiss and stood, lifting me to my feet with him. "Let's go home." I nodded.

"Let's take a picture first. They're still taking pictures at the sign outside." Jacob smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Sure." He kissed me again, and we walked to where they were taking prom pictures and stood together. The camera man looked a little confused when he saw Jacob, but he didn't say a word and took the picture. I was sure to stand at the left so the picture would show the ring on my hand rested against his chest.

I gave the camera man the address to send the picture to and we left hand in hand. We were still holding hands after we got into the car and he held my hand the whole way home. As we drove home, Jacob kissed my hand occasionally and I was constantly looking at either him or my ring. It really was perfect. It wasn't overbearing, but it still demanded attention. My heart stopped every time I looked at it. When we got to Jacob's apartment, I saw Dante and Amadora standing in the parking lot. I was surprised to see them. Jacob was too, but he ignored them. When the car was in park, he reached over, kissed me lovingly again, and grinned.

"Let's go home." I smiled and nodded while reaching over to open the door. Jacob and I walked out and joined hands when we were both out of the car and Jacob had locked the car. But as soon as our hands joined, I heard a violin start to play.

Jacob and I looked towards the sounds and saw Dante smiling at us and playing his violin. I recognized the song. You Raise Me Up. It was one of those timeless love songs. Then, at the right part, Amadora started singing to the Violin. It was made all the more beautiful from her singing the Italian version of the song, Por Ti Seré. I was speechless as I watched them. It seemed everybody knew that Jacob was proposing today. The way Dante was playing made the song flawless and more beautiful than I'd ever heard. The Celtic quality of the song only seemed more prominent with Dante playing. And Amadora had a voice that an angel would envy. She didn't need any accompaniment to make the song seem to float. And Dante made the song whole all on his own, with no help from any other instruments. Any more would only intrude on the sound.

Near the end of the song, Jacob kissed my cheek and started leading me with him to the building. I looked over my shoulder and saw Amadora wave to me as she sang and Dante winked. I smiled at them gratefully and didn't take my eyes away until the door to the apartment closed. I heard them finish the song, then the sound was gone. As soon as Jacob and I were in his apartment and at long last alone, he lifted me into his arms and kissed me.

I melted the instant our lips met. My mind went blank and all I could think about was Jacob and the smell of his skin and the taste of his lips. Together, it all made me dizzy. I clutched to him as tightly as I possibly could, not wanting to be separated from him by a weakness in my neck. I felt Jacob start to move, but I couldn't get myself to think about it. I couldn't think of anything but him. Before I knew it, I was falling backwards and didn't stop until my back his cotton sheets. The feeling of them made me shiver and my stomach go warm all at once.

The barrettes holding my hair back were bothering me. Without taking my lips from his, I reached up and took the barrettes out of my hair and let my curls fall. Then I took off my earrings, my necklace, and my bracelets without ever ending the kiss. His tongue licked my bottom lip and I happily let him in and met his tongue with mine. It was something we'd done several times before, but this time seemed more special than any of those other kisses.

His hands began to travel. They went from my hair to my back, over my breasts once, then down my waist to my butt, and finally my legs. When his hands were on my thighs, he pulled them up to cradle his hips. Once there, one hand stayed on my thigh and rubbed and squeezed, making me light headed and my stomach flutter. His other hand traveled up and took a spot next to my face to support his weight. My hands played through his hair, around his neck, and his face in the hopes of bringing him closer to me. I didn't care if it wouldn't work. Later, one of my hands traveled into his tuxedo jacket and grabbed a hold of his dress shirt while the other grasped onto his neck.

When Jacob took his mouth away, I remembered that I needed to breath and took in air. He kept kissing as he breathed in. He kissed my jaw, my neck, and sucked on my ear greedily. I moaned his name every time his tongue touched my ear. He knew I was ticklish there and that kissing there made the world disappear every time. After sucking on one ear, he kissed along my neck and collarbone until he got to my other ear and did the same to that one as he had with the other. Jacob's hand that had been on my thigh moved lower down onto my thigh pushing my dress out of his way until his hand was holding my hip.

"I love you, Nessie. You have no idea how much I love you." I smiled and felt tears in my eyes again.

"I love you too, Jacob. I love you so much." I felt Jacob smile against my ear and he repeated the words back to me in Quileute before kissing my neck again.

Then Jacob took a firmer hold of me and lifted me with him further onto the bed until my head was resting on his pillow. When I was rested where he wanted me, he kept going and I laid there with my hands wandering and saying his name in faint, pleasured whispers. As he kissed, I reached my hands down one at a time to undo my sandals and throw them to the side. I couldn't bring myself to care about even shoes right now. Jacob was all that was on my mind. Then I giggled when a thought crossed my mind. It was proof I wore high heels a little more than was really needed.

"What's so funny?" I controlled my laugh and breathed.

"Without my shoes, I feel so teeny that I might hit my head on something." Jacob chuckled with me and kissed me.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't hit anything. Besides, you don't need those heels. You're tall enough on your own." I shook my head.

"You're at least a foot taller than me. I'm 5'6" and you're 6'6" give or take. I need some sort of latter mechanism." Jacob laughed again and shook his head.

"You're so sweet Nessie. All this time, I thought it was a strange girly obsession when really, you were just trying to make my life easier." I nodded.

"I told you those shoes were more than just pretty things." Jacob laughed again before kissing me. He rubbed his nose against mine as he shook his head.

"How did I ever live without you?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know how you live with me around. And I like to think I do a good job." Jacob smiled wider and nodded his head.

"Better than anyone ever could." He kissed me again. "I can't wait to marry you." I smiled and shook my head.

"Neither can I. But sadly enough, we have to. But don't worry. It won't be that long of a wait."

"It'll feel like it is." I nodded.

"Believe me, I know. But let's try taking it a day at a time. Instead of thinking it's that far away, think of it as that much closer. It might make the wait seem less hefty." Jacob grinned.

"We could try it. You always know how to make anything better." I grinned and kissed him.

"I do what I can."

We smiled at each other for a moment, then finally kissed again. The kiss was lasting as before. He held me close as I did to him. Our tongues played together and he tickled the roof of my mouth as I did to him. He made me light headed again and I felt the world turn to fog. We kissed for what felt like hours. Simply kissing, making our love known while still holding back ever so slightly.

With all the dizziness in my head, I never even noticed that I'd fallen asleep until the next morning when I opened my eyes and saw Jacob sleeping on top of me with his shirt off and my dress lifted up to my waist. I smiled at his sleeping face and smiled more when I looked at my ring again. I could hardly believe that this wasn't a dream. It felt too good, too wonderful to be true. But it was. I looked at Jacob again and smiled at the thought of him being my husband. He would really be mine in every way possible as I would be with him.

After simply looking at him and smiling the whole time, I started humming the song Amadora and Dante had performed for us the night before. It wasn't my favorite song in the whole world, but it held more truth than any other that I could recall. He was my everything, the one that gave me the strength to move mountains and be everything that I could be. He could've easily said that he wanted me to stay with him and not make something of myself. I certainly wouldn't have minded being his wife and only that, but he wanted me to be more than that. He wanted me to be whatever I could ever dream of and didn't let his personal feelings and knowledge that I'd be far away cloud that desire. I loved him all the more for letting me do that. I really could stand on mountains and walk on stormy seas with him. And he made me more than I could be. He made me stronger than I ever thought I could be. And he always would be, now, tomorrow, and for all eternity.


	21. Everlasting

**Everlasting**

This is Nessie's dress (.?pid=52&item_id=11630&rowid=412&page=21)

This is the cake (.com/planning/cakes/gallery/editorspick/detail/207854?f=592%3a594&offset=3) just imagine it with three more tiers and slightly larger squares.

The bridesmaid dress (/is/image/Debenhams/20081031_008010811608?$ProdLarge$)

Valerie's flower girl dress (.)

And finally, Nessie's rings ()

After looking at Jacob and watching him sleep for at least a half hour, I kissed his forehead and did my best to get out from under him without waking him. I kissed his cheek before leaving his room and going to my room to change from the prom dress I was still wearing into something more comfortable. I picked out a pair of flannel pajama pants and my slipknot t-shirt. I can't believe this shirt still fits after all these years. It was tight, but that was about it. Once I was dressed, I went to my bathroom and washed off the makeup I still had on from the night before.

After I was cleaned, I went to the kitchen and started making pancakes. While I was cooking, I kept staring at my ring. It was mesmerizing, all the more so because it was mine. I glanced at it and cooked Jacob's breakfast all at the same time hoping that I didn't get anything weird in the batter. If there was ever a time something would happen to the food, it would be the time that I wasn't paying attention because I was looking at my ring the whole time. I think the smell of pancakes woke Jacob up and I heard him start to move around when I put the patter on the hot pan. I heard his sink and he finished by the time I finished his first two pancakes. And while I was covering his pancakes with syrup, I heard Jacob come into the kitchen and he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my neck, making me smile.

"Pancakes. My favorite." I nodded.

"That's why I made them for you. And there's plenty of batter left, so feel free to ask for more." Jacob smiled against my neck and kissed my ear.

"I might just do that. How did you sleep?" I giggled and turned around in his arms holding his plate of pancakes between us.

"Wonderful. You?" Jacob grinned.

"Fantastic." I smiled back and he reached down and kissed me and took a hold of his plate. "And waking up to pancakes only made it better."

"Glad to make your morning bright." Jacob laughed under his breath and kissed my nose.

"You always do, Nessie." Then Jacob walked over to the table and took a seat so he could start eating his pancakes. I walked over to the table and sat down across from him and watched him.

"I noticed on the invitation Alice sent out, it said that the date of the wedding was to be announced." Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. I think Alice knew you would say yes, but she wanted to have a little wiggle room for just in case you didn't. That way, the invitation could be for an upcoming wedding, or could be as far away as a few years. All that's left is for us to tell Alice when we want the ceremony." I smiled and started thinking about it.

"Soon, obviously." Jacob grinned and nodded. "And we need plenty of time to have a nice honeymoon before I have to go to Chicago." Jacob nodded. "You said Alice's already been planning, right?"

"Yeah. If I remember correctly, she already has the decorations for the house and all the lights. All that's left is to set it up for the day. And from what Alice can tell, there will be three days this summer where it won't rain at all, so I think we should have it one of those days. And she already has the bridesmaid's dresses in the right sizes. And she already has a dress picked out for you." My eyes widened.

"She already picked a dress? What does it look like?" Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know. She won't let me anywhere near it. She doesn't want our wedding to be jinxed from me seeing the dress before the wedding day." I sighed.

"I should've figured." Jacob smiled and took my hand in his.

"I'm sure you'll love it. Alice would never put you in anything you didn't love, you know that."

"I know. But it's the fact that I didn't have an opportunity to pick it myself." Jacob shrugged.

"She did tell me that the dress was one of those hard to get, waiting list dresses, so maybe that's why."

"I just hope she didn't get anything old fashioned or something. I've seen those types of dresses and honestly, they're not my taste. I mean, momma and Esme's wedding dresses were stunning, but they aren't right for me." Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"I know. And I'm sure Alice knows that too. Bella and Edward probably had a hand in picking your dress and no one knows you better than Edward. Except for me, of course." I giggled and Jacob grinned and took another bite of his pancakes.

I watched Jacob while he ate and took his plate away when he was finally done and took it to the kitchen to clean it. Jacob followed after me with his hand almost permanently glued to my waist. When the plate was clean and on a towel to dry, Jacob lifted me up and we laughed together while he took me with him to the couch. He sat down and held me in his lap and kissed my neck.

"So what should we do today?" I smiled.

"I think I'd like to just stay here." Jacob grinned.

"I think that could work." Jacob and I laughed again before we kissed.

It was immediately passionate when he licked my bottom lip and I let him in to explore. I did the same to him and didn't mind when I felt myself falling back. He gently placed me on my back on the couch and made himself comfortable on top of me by resting his knee next to my hip to help support his weight. His scent and taste was intoxicating and his hands were warm against my own heated skin. I bit down gently on his lip and earned a smile from him as he kept kissing me.

Then one of Jacob's hands, which had been on either side of my face holding himself up, trailed down to my hip and squeezed gently. It made me shiver and groan into his mouth, which made him smirk. I couldn't help but smile myself. His hand trailed up my hip and over my waist and squeezed again. My hands went into his hair and brushed my nails over his scalp. My nails over his scalp made him groan and I smiled again. Jacob took his lips from mine and started kissing my jaw. When he reached my ear, he sucked and made me breath in a harsh breath.

Suddenly, Jacob's hand left my waist and went back to my hip. Then he trailed his hand back up, but this time, his hand went under my shirt and continued up. His hand didn't stop until it covered my right breast completely. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly to bring him closer to me. He rested more of his weight on his knees, both now on the couch, and his other hand went to my shoulder. That hand rubbed and squeezed my shoulder while his other hand massaged my breast gently and lovingly. Then his right hand trailed under my shirt so his hand was on my bare shoulder. My hands started pulling on his shirt and I lifted my knees so that I was cradling Jacob's hips. That's when Jacob rested more of his weight on me, but it wasn't quite all of it.

The hand that was squeezing my shoulder made its way into way into my shirt and went down my back, making me shiver even more. He was stretching the fabric so he could reach in. And his hand traveled down my spine until it reached my bra. As Jacob kissed a trail of heated, open-mouthed kisses down my neck, he unhooked my bra and made me squeak in surprise. The hand that Jacob had on my right breast took that opportunity to slide his hand from atop my bra and went underneath. I groaned when his hand was on my bare skin and the other hand pulled out of my shirt and reached down to my hips.

"I can't believe this shirt still smells like pot." I laughed at his comment as well as when he kissed the ticklish spot between my neck and shoulder. I was ticklish only for him.

"It's a Slipknot shirt that we got at a Slipknot concert. It's part of the memory." Jacob chuckled.

"But that was five years ago." I smiled and brought my hands back to his hair and gently pulled him up so that our lips were close together again.

"Memories always last I suppose. Do you ever think we're remembering the smell?" Jacob smiled and rubbed the tip of his nose against mine.

"Do either of us really care?" I grinned and shook my head.

"Not in the least." Jacob grinned with me and brought his lips to mine in another passionate kiss.

He licked and sucked my bottom lip, asking for entrance, which I granted. I loved the taste of him. At first, the syrup interfered with him, but right now, it added to his woodsy taste. It was almost like I was enjoying maple syrup myself, but it was much more wonderful. Jacob's left hand massaged my breast relentlessly and made me feel weightless in his hands. His right hand poked under my shirt, following the example of his left. It trailed up my shirt over my stomach and grabbed a hold of my free breast when he reached it.

I knew we were going too far yet again, but I was dizzy. It didn't matter to me. I just wanted him. I've wanted him for three or four years. And now he was about to fulfill my every desire. I lifted my hips to meet his and took my hands away from his hair and rested them on his hands through my shirt. Jacob groaned and bit my lip again before trailing his tongue over to roof of my mouth, which made me take in a sharp breath from pleasure. I felt Jacob smile again and he took the opportunity to kiss my chin, then start kissing down my neck again. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back and just felt. He was so warm, and his heartbeat, even now, was the best lullaby in the world.

Jacob had lifted my shirt over my waist as he'd brought his hands to my breasts, and now I could feel his bare chest over my stomach as he moved. When Jacob kissed all of my neck, he brought his lips to my hands and kissed them both while squeezing my breasts one last time before taking them away and taking my hands in his. He lifted my hands so that my arms wound around his neck and patted my arms in place before running his hands down my arms. Once my arms were in the place he wanted, his hands went back on either side of my face and he kissed me again. I pulled on his hair, but sure not to pull it out, as he kissed me. It was another passionate kiss that made me melt.

I dipped my hands into the neck of his shirt as he'd done to me and rubbed his spine with my nails, earning a violent shiver from him that made us both smile through our kiss. My nails played over his skin and I could feel it making Jacob breath harder through his nose, not wanted to end our kiss. I didn't want to end it either. But then I heard his house phone ring and I dug my nails further into his skin wanting to make sure he couldn't get away from me. I even wrapped my legs around his waist.

"Ignore it." I said against the kiss. Jacob shook his head and took his lips away.

"Last time I ignored it, it was Edward." I still didn't let go of him when he tried to pull himself away. But instead of forcing me off him, he smiled, kissed me again, and pulled me up off the couch with him and carried me to the phone. Jacob sat me on the counter before answering the phone. "Hello?"

Jacob listened to whoever was talking without looking upset or surprised about anything. I was relieved that whatever this was, it wasn't bad news. I reached behind myself and hooked my bra back up knowing that we wouldn't get back to what we'd been doing before. The mood was officially killed. I made a mental note to myself to kill whoever was talking to Jacob right now.

"Where did you say this place was?" I listened to Jacob intently, worried that something might have happened with the pack. But to my surprise, he rolled his eyes. "Look, I said I wanted to keep it within the Forks and First Beach area. Port Angeles isn't within that area."

Jacob rested his hand on my thigh absentmindedly and I rested my hand there too. He kept looking to another side other than me while the person was talking. He looked like he was getting frustrated with something the person was saying. I trailed my other hand up his chest to try and make him a little less annoyed with whatever was going on. He looked at me and smiled before giving my forehead a quick peck.

"Well, if there aren't any houses available, then tell me that. Don't look in another area all together. And I happen to know there's a family in Forks right now that's interested in selling." Jacob listened again. "Look, I'm not asking you for a mansion here, I'm asking for a decent sized house that's close by." While Jacob went quiet, I rested my chin on his chest and looked up at him. "Just keep looking. There's bound to be something. Thanks for calling on a Sunday. Bye." Then Jacob hung up the phone and looked at me again. I was smiling at him.

"Who was that?"

"The real-estate agent I hired to help me look for a house." I giggled.

"Forks isn't that big, Jacob. Why didn't you look yourself?"

"Because, Nessie, between work, being a wolf, and planning how to propose, I had no time for it." I giggled again and reached up to kiss him.

"Well, if it was because you were planning, I guess it's understandable then." Jacob smiled and kissed my nose.

"Exactly." I sighed.

"Since the agent isn't doing so well, can I kill him for interrupting us?" Jacob started laughing and rested his head against mine.

"I might just let you. He's making this a lot more difficult for me than I would like. He keeps trying to show me things in Seattle and Port Angeles."

"Why?" He shrugged.

"I suppose he thinks that, since I work in Seattle, it would make more sense for me to live there. Way to listen to my requests to keep it in the area." I smirked and lifted my head to him and kissed his nose.

"You know that Esme would bend over backwards to make a house for us. She loves doing that sort of stuff."

"Then why doesn't she ever make one for Rosalie and Emmett whenever they ask?" I gave Jacob a weird look.

"Because it's Emmett and Rosalie. Even with kids, they're pretty……..you get the idea I hope." Jacob was silent a moment thoughtful, then his face became aware, then shocked.

"What the hell are those two doing that would break a house?" I giggled.

"Do you honestly want to know?" Jacob was silent again until he gave me my favorite, 'I hate it when she's right', face. It always made me smile.

"I guess not."

"Exactly. But Esme would be more than happy to build a house for us. They did for momma and daddy. And they haven't ruined that house so far." Jacob shuddered. "What's wrong?" Jacob shook his head.

"Nothing. Nothing important. Just a very disturbing image in my head for a moment." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"Try not to think about it. Just go to Esme and tell her that we'd love for her to build us a house. She'll definitely find a place on the reservation and she'll make it wonderful and large enough for us and our kids once they come along." Jacob grinned and rested his forehead against mine again.

"Do you still want three?" I shrugged.

"I'm happy with however many." Jacob smiled and kissed me.

"Can I make a request?" I nodded.

"What's on your mind?" Jacob breathed out before speaking.

"I was hoping that, when we do start having kids and you're pregnant, can I request that you not be…….okay not that word……could you not have mood swings and blame me for everything and yell at me one minute then cry the next?" I giggled and shook my head.

"You mean, 'please avoid being a crazy bitch for nine months,'?" Jacob gave me a guilty smile.

"I didn't want to put it like that, but yeah. That's pretty much what I'm asking."

"You know I can't promise that." Jacob sighed. "I can try, but I can't guarantee that I won't blame you for things. I mean, you're the one who'll get me pregnant. I think I'm in titled to yell at you a little."

"I thought you wanted kids." I nodded.

"I do. I just wish I didn't have to 'have' them. But considering I'm perfectly capable of having kids, that's a bit unrealistic."

"You don't even know what it's like." I shrugged.

"Seeing Morgan have Ryan and Valerie was enough for me to know I'm not going to like it very much. And momma was kind enough to let me know how excruciating it was for her to have me." I said that last part with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "I've got to be honest with you, Jacob, I'm not looking forward to that part."

"No woman does. But that's what goes into having a baby." I nodded.

"A huh. And what will you be doing, do you think, while I'm trying to push an eight pound baby through my vagina?"

"Standing there to hold your hand and support you. I'll be there for you all the way, you know that. Why would that make you mad?" I sighed.

"Jacob, being there for us isn't what makes a woman in labor mad. What makes her mad is that her husband is usually standing there completely unaffected by it physically and we feel a little….I don't know…….annoyed that you get to just sit back and watch. Do you see what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you need to yell at me."

"Jacob, think about it. I'll be having back pains, nausea, bloating, mood swings, weird cravings, or maybe not the food cravings. But my point is that, though I'll be happy that we're having a baby and that I'll be a mother, the experience is, overall, uncomfortable and not a favorite. And when I'm delivering the baby, it'll be like I'm trying to squeeze a large melon through my cooch. You can't expect me to be pleasant through all that." Jacob groaned and rested his head on my shoulder and kissed my neck.

"Let's just adopt." I giggled and shook my head.

"I don't want someone else's kid. I want ours. And I'll go through anything for them. That doesn't mean I have to be all gumdrops and ice cream the whole time." Jacob chuckled and nuzzled his nose into my neck.

"Okay. I'll take whatever you throw at me." I nodded.

"Yes you will. And you'll do it with a smile." Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"You're damn straight I will." I smiled wider and Jacob did too before kissing the tip of my nose, then my cheek, then finally, my lips.

Our kiss was about to become passionate, but then I heard Jacob's phone ring again. We both ignored it at first. Or I ignored it. I held onto Jacob so he wouldn't get away from me again. He didn't fight me this time. Instead, he sucked on my bottom lip asking me to open for him and he dipped his tongue in when I did. He made me shiver when his tongue brushed the roof of my mouth and I held him tighter to me. As the phone continued to ring, it finally went to voicemail and I heard Alice's voice on the line.

"_Jacob, Nessie, its Alice. Hey, come back to the house will you? We want to throw a nice little party for you two. And Nessie, your bridal shower's tomorrow by the way. I already sent out the invitations to it last week. And I let Aida and Madison take charge of your bachelorette party. No offense, but that's not something I do. And we're expecting you two within the next fifteen minutes, so you better get moving. Otherwise, one of us will just have to come and get you, and you wouldn't want that. Bye."_

Jacob and I pulled away from each other to look at the phone. I groaned my head fell against Jacob's chest. Jacob laughed, shook his head, then carried me with him until we got to my room. He placed me on my feet and kissed my forehead before going to his room to get dressed. I looked through my closet and took out some skinny jeans, a burgundy knitted sweater and put that all on before putting on my black, buckled flat boots, covering the bottom of my jeans. I put on all my jewelry and combed through my hair and scrunched my hair to give it some more bounce. When I was done, I went straight to Jacob's room and took a seat on his bed and waited for him to get out of his closet.

"You know, Nessie, it's rude to barge in without knocking." I giggled and he was smiling when he come out, still buttoning a nice shirt. I was relieved that he knew Alice would expect him to dress nice. He was still in jeans, but they were dark wash, so they weren't as casual.

"What? Are you scared I'll come in and see something I shouldn't?" Jacob chuckled and bent down to kiss my forehead.

"You've already done that once. It's more the principle of the thing over all." I shook my head with a sigh.

"We're getting married Jacob. What need is there for me to knock before entering a room?" Jacob chuckled again and rolled his eyes at me.

"There's no reasoning with you, you know that?" I shrugged.

"That can be a good thing. Maybe I should work at Washington D.C. I could be one hell of a negotiator." Jacob laughed harder this time.

"I'm not sure that would be the best idea." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"Why? What's wrong with me being a negotiator?" Jacob grinned and shook his head.

"I don't want to say. You'll just get mad at me."

"I'll get mad at you if you don't tell me, too." Jacob shrugged and I sighed. "How about this? I promise not to get mad at whatever comment you were about to say, even if it's mean and insensitive." Jacob gave me a cautious smile.

"Promise?" I nodded.

"Cross my head and hope to die." Jacob looked at me a moment longer before he finally said anything.

"Okay. Though on second thought, maybe it would be a good thing for you to become a negotiator."

"Why?" Jacob smiled cautiously again.

"I was going to say that we wouldn't have enemies anymore if you worked at D.C. Your stubbornness alone would make any sane man military leader shoot himself." I went wide eyed and pretended that I was mad.

"How dare you say such a thing to me?" Jacob smiled, calling my bluff.

"Nessie, sometimes your stubbornness drives even me nuts. I'm not going to lie, Nessie, there are times when you just make me want to hit my head against something out of sheer frustration."

"And you don't do that to me?" Jacob smiled wider.

"I never said I didn't do that to you. I know I do. But I only annoy you sometimes because I love you. There's a saying that says, 'the more you love someone, the more you want to kill them'."

"Jacob, that's a song from Avenue Q." Jacob smiled and nodded.

"Doesn't make it any less true." We were teasing each other even if it sounded like a mean conversation. To add to the joke, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him and started singing the song with Christmas Eve's accent and everything.

Jacob just started laughing and took me into his arms and carried me out of his room to the living room where he got his keys and carried me with him to his car. I stopped singing when we got out of his apartment because I started laughing with him. When I was in the passenger's seat and Jacob was in the driver's side, we finally stopped laughing and he reached over to kiss me. I kissed him in return and kept my head rested on his arm when we parted and he started the car.

Jacob drove back to the house as fast as he could, slowing down when he saw a squad car along the way. We managed to get back to the house within the time Alice gave us and just about everyone's cars were there. I figured that meant some car pulled. When we got in, all my family and Jacob's friends where there. None of my human friends were there, but I wasn't expecting them to be. As Alice said, they were already throwing my bachelorette party tomorrow. I wondered if that meant Jacob's friends had planned for him to have a bachelor party too. When Jacob and I got in, momma and daddy walked over to us first and momma hugged me tightly.

"Congratulations, Renesmee." I hugged momma back and daddy reached over momma to hug me too.

"Thanks, momma, daddy." Then they let go of me and momma hugged Jacob, telling him the same thing. Lia ran over to me and hugged me with Ada-María coming behind her. When they both hugged me, I hugged them in return. It was weird not having to bend down to hug either of them. Lia was still shorter than me, but not by much. And Ada-María was slightly taller than Lia, but simply because she was growing faster.

"Hurray for you, Nessie. You're getting married." I nodded and hugged Lia tighter.

"Yeah. It's really something, isn't it?" Ada-María laughed evilly and looked over at her brother.

"It's such a shame. Marcelo was so sad that you said yes." I rolled my eyes. I knew what Marcelo was doing. He was teasing and trying to poke me into feeling bad for his amusement. But I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Marcelo's a big boy, I'm sure he can handle it." Ada-María smiled and threw a mean smile at Marcelo, who I could hear hissing at her. I pretended not to notice Jacob staring at Marcelo with a mean look. Then Esme and Alice came over and all the others followed to talk to us.

Esme made plenty of food for Jacob and the other pack members and Billy and Charlie. Seth and the other pack members sat close to Jacob and I heard them talking and comparing how they proposed. I held back a smirk when I heard how Seth proposed. Alyssa heard him talk about it and petted his head laughing and just told him she loved him. I overheard Paul's method and smiled when Rachael lovingly rolled her eyes at how proud he was about it. And Jared's story was just precious in my opinion.

I think because of mine and Jacob's engagement, Claire was having one of those young imagination moments. She was only nine and yet I think she was already in love, but in a way that a little girl would have a crush on her big brother's best friend or something. Quil still treated her like his favorite little sister, so no outsider would ever think their relationship was weird. But I had a feeling that it wouldn't be any more than three or four years before Claire realized how much she loved Quil, though I was sure it would be a while before any sort of serious relationship resulted from it.

Claire was asking me a whole bunch of questions throughout the whole time everyone was there. She asked me things like, 'what would my dress look like?', 'did she have a spot in the wedding?', and so on. When she asked that last question, Alice cut in, letting her know she was the flower girl, unless she objected, of course. But Claire was thrilled to have a roll. And Lia let me know that she was honored that I wanted her to be a bridesmaid. Lia smiled when I told her about how Jacob proposed.

"That's so sweet." Ada-María nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. And it wasn't tacky under the circumstances." Lia looked at her with a weird stare.

"Why would it be weird?" Ada-María shrugged.

"Well, think about it. This was Nessie's prom. And I'm sure Jacob's not the first man to propose to his girlfriend at prom. But those people are usually both teenagers going into college with no way to support a married life. Jacob, on the other hand, is out of high school, has a job and his own place, and is in actually in a position to take on a wife. It's more romantic since the grimy details aren't there to ruin the moment." Lia looked at her a moment before shrugging.

"Point taken." I smiled too. Amadora scooted her chair a little closer to us, leaving Dante to talk to Demetri and daddy, to come into our conversation.

"I don't think it should matter. What does matter is that the man you love, loves you as much as you love him and asked you to spend the rest of his life with you." Ada-María shook her head in disagreement.

"That's a lovely concept, but shouldn't you want to start with a lovely, romantic moment? I mean think about it Amadora. If Dante were to pop the question, would you rather he took time to plan it out and ask you in a way that lets you know how much he loves you, or would you rather just bought a ring and handed it to you and say, 'what the hell, let's get married'?" Amadora gave Ada-María a strange blank stare.

"I wouldn't care because either way, I would say yes." I looked at Afton and noticed he'd overheard the conversation. He didn't look like he was going to say anything, but he certainly didn't look happy.

Chelsea overheard too, noticed Afton's reaction to it, swatted his arm and told him, 'She's not a baby anymore, Afton. Let it go'. Daddy just laughed to himself at whatever Afton was thinking and turned his attention back to Demetri and Dante. Heidi was sitting next to Chelsea and Alice and Rosalie talking about other things concerning what Alice had already planned. I made a mental note to talk to Alice about that when Jacob left for patrol tonight. I don't know if he'd planned to go, but tonight he would because I needed to talk to Alice.

We all spent the whole day together, just sitting and talking to each other. Charlie actually got a chance to talk to Corin and they, to my surprise, because good friends. The sight of them getting along made me smile to myself. When I looked at Armando and Octavia, I noticed that Octavia was talking to Valerie the whole time, leaving Armando bored and not talking at all.

"Ada-María?" Ada-María looked at me from Lia.

"Yeah?"

"Could I ask you a weird favor?" She nodded.

"Of course."

"You know Armando, right?"

"Yeah. I never really talked to him before. Why?"

"Well, he looks so bored. I was wondering if you'd be willing to talk to him. He's closer to you." Ada-María nodded her head.

"Sure thing." Ada-María looked over at Armando and waited until she had enough of his attention. Lia joined and talked to him too.

I wasn't sure if I'd done him any good. Once Ada-María had Armando's attention, she started rambling on and on. Armando's expression changed, but I wasn't sure if it was good or not. It reminded me of the expression he had whenever Octavia was talking to him. It wasn't necessarily bored as much as it was listening, but not all that interested. I wasn't quite sure what to call his expression except, maybe, familiar. I suppose that shouldn't be strange seeing as listening to Octavia talk was usually all he ever had to do.

Once it started getting late, Charlie, Billy, Sue, Sam, and everyone's wife or fiancé went home for the night. Seth had the night off, so he and Alyssa drove back to Seattle together. Jacob and the others stayed a little longer before they had to go out on patrol. When the sun started to set, Jacob told everyone they needed to get ready for patrol that night. As they left, I walked with them to the back yard. Once they all fazed in the woods, I held Jacob back for a moment. He simply smiled at me and I smiled back.

"I'm going to talk to Alice about the wedding, okay? I'll try to get the ceremony to be as soon as possible." Jacob grinned and nodded his head.

"The soonest day where we won't have any rain, at least." I nodded too.

"Of course. And I get the felling she's already chosen a dress and bridesmaid gowns for me." Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, she did. I've seen the bridesmaid gowns and I know you'll love them. They're red, so that should put a big smile on your face." I giggled because it had. "She even let me see the dress that your flower girl, Valerie, would be wearing. That I think you'll really like too. But she wouldn't let me see your dress." I shrugged.

"Well, of course she wouldn't let you see my dress. You're not supposed to see it until the wedding day."

"Still. I was hoping to at least get a glimpse of it." I shook my head.

"You'll just have to be patient and wait until our wedding day, just like any other groom."

"But what if I don't want to?" I giggled and reached on my tip toes and he bent down a little so I could kiss the tip of his nose.

"Doesn't matter. You have to, because I said so. I don't want you to see it until our wedding day. Clear?" Jacob sighed with a smile and nodded.

"Understood, Nessie." I smiled and kissed his nose again.

"Good. Now go out on patrol. I'll fill you in on everything tomorrow when you get back. You don't have work tomorrow, do you?" Jacob shook his head.

"I'm all yours." We smiled at each other and shared a quick kiss.

"Good. Then tomorrow, you and I can help out Alice with whatever she wants us to do. And remember that Valerie and Ryan's first birthday is two weeks from now."

"Wow. They're one already, huh?" I nodded.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" He nodded.

"Yeah. It's even harder to believe when they both look like they're eight give or take." I nodded.

"Yeah."

"And Ryan hardly talks like an eight or one year old. It's like he's already a smartass teenage boy." I giggled.

"It seems like it sometimes, doesn't it?" Jacob shrugged.

"I guess it makes sense that Valerie would be the responsible one of the two. But she's too much like Rosalie sometimes. She can be such a brat." I smiled and gave Jacob a lecturing stare.

"Now, Jacob, that's hardly a way to talk about your future in-laws." Jacob shrugged.

"I talk about my own family that way." I shook my head.

"No you don't."

"Not to you."

"Why not to me?" Jacob looked at me a moment before he sighed.

"I'm kind of embarrassed to tell you about any relatives that I often make fun of. It's okay to talk about them in front of my pack because they knew my relatives. But you never knew them and I would truthfully prefer it stayed that way."

"I know about your grandpa that hates white people."

"Yeah, but that's not the worst of him. He was pretty nuts in a sense." Then Jacob looked over his shoulder when he heard a howl. Then he turned to me. "I better get going. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, Jacob. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too." Then Jacob bent down and gave me a quick peck on the lips before running into the woods.

When I heard him faze and he was gone, I turned back to go into the house and went to the living room where Alice was sitting watching TV with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie. Alice heard me coming and grabbed a hold of Jasper and pulled him with her as she left the living room couch and made her way to me.

"Come on, Nessie. I have to show you the dresses." Without me saying a word, Alice pulled me with her up the stairs to get to hers and Jasper's room where she was keeping everything. When we got into her room, she let go of both mine and Jasper's hands and went to the closet. "First I'll show you what Valerie will be wearing. I knew you would like it if we went with a red theme."

Then Alice came out holding a dress that was out of its plastic cover and in plain sight. I was pleased when I saw it. It was white, but it had little red embroidered flowers along the hem and I saw the back open into some red. I tried to picture Valerie in it and knew she would look wonderful in it. I smiled when I thought about how cute she would look throwing flowers on the aisle.

"It's beautiful, Alice." Alice smiled.

"I have to admit, Rosalie picked this out. She demanded to be the one to pick Valerie's flower girl dress and she went along with the theme nicely. And all red would've been too much. You'll see what I mean when you see the bridesmaid dresses."

Once Alice had Valerie's dress hung over to door, she went back into her closet and got one of the dresses for the bridesmaids. She had the plastic covering off and showed it to me, holding it up for me to see. It was beautiful. I started to wonder why I was worried about Alice planning this without me. She knew what I liked and didn't like and she knew me well enough to put together something that I would consider memorable. It was all red with some subtle black tulle under the dress with a small gathering of red rosettes.

"Believe it or not, this is Claire's dress. I can't believe she's already as tall as me. And she's only nine." I smiled.

"I think height just runs in the tribe." Alice giggled and nodded.

"Probably does. They're like giants." I nodded.

"I know. You feel so puny around Jacob and the pack." Alice rolled her eyes.

"I'm under five feet, Nessie. I feel puny no matter what." Jasper smiled, but didn't say anything. Then, Alice smiled and clapped her hands. "Now. Are you ready for the best part?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. What's the best part?" Alice rolled her eyes.

"What do you think, Nessie? You want to see your dress, right?" I smiled and stood up. Now I was really nervous. The dresses before were just a bridesmaid dress and a flower girl dress. I didn't much care about what those looked like. But the wedding dress was so personal. I wanted to remember that Alice knew me and would know what I'd like, but I was still nervous.

"I would like to see it, yes." Alice grinned and walked over to me.

"Well, too bad. You're not seeing it until we have you try it on. So I want you to keep your eyes closed while I get you in it. I'll cover the mirror and blindfold you if I have to." I sighed and shook my head.

"You don't have to. I'll keep my eyes closed." Alice smiled and hopped.

"Good. Now close your eyes and take my hand." I sighed and did as Alice said. When my eyes were closed, she took my hand and pulled me with her into the closet. "Okay, start getting undressed and I'll get the dress down. Remember, no peeking."

I nodded my head and did as Alice said. Once I was undressed, Alice faced me in a different direction and led my feet into my dress and pulled it up. Once it was on, she pulled it together tightly and zipped it up. I was relieved I wouldn't have to have a whole bunch of tying in the back to worry about. Then Alice gently pushed me forward until I was in a spot she thought was good. When she had me where she wanted me, she let go of me and clapped her hands again.

"Okay. You can look now." I took a deep breath and let it out before I opened my eyes.

What I saw in the mirror was nothing short of wonderful. It wasn't a dress that was too over the top, but it wasn't too simple either. I never thought a mermaid silhouette would look right on me, but I was wrong. The dress hugged my hips and curves and accentuated me in a way that made me feel more like a woman then I ever had before. Normally, I would think a bow that ties in the front would be tacky, but on this dress, it was perfect. And the embroidery work was absolutely phenomenal. I covered my mouth while I looked at it, hardly able to believe I could I was falling in love with a dress.

"I take your stunned silence as a good thing?" I kept staring at the dress in the mirror. I even started crying. It was so beautiful. Looking at it, I could actually picture myself walking down the aisle on daddy's arm walking to Jacob and seeing the look of joy on his face when he saw me.

"She loves it, Alice." I heard daddy say. I hadn't even realized he'd come in. I looked in the mirror and saw daddy and momma both standing in the door way of Alice's closet. Momma came over to me to hug me.

"Oh, honey, you look so beautiful." I couldn't seem to talk. I was too mesmerized by my dress. It was perfect. There wasn't a thing about it I would change. Daddy walked into the closet and went to my other side, next to momma.

"You look Beautiful, Nessie. I promise Jacob will be close to tears when he sees you." I grinned and closed my eyes. It seemed so overwhelming, but I wasn't complaining.

"Okay, Nessie, let's take off the dress. You can look at it more later." I shook my head. Daddy laughed a little.

"She doesn't want to take it off, Alice." Alice sighed, but it was with a smile.

"I know you love the dress, Nessie, but you need to take it off. There's still other things we need to talk about and I can't have you distracted by your dress." I giggled a little under my breath and sighed. I kept my eyes closed again while I got the dress off. I didn't want to take it off, but I knew I had to.

When I was back in my regular clothes, we all went back downstairs where everyone else was, doing whatever they pleased. I saw Maggie outside playing with Ryan and Valerie, all of them having a great time trying to catch frogs from what I could tell. A lot of our guests were out of state hunting. Daddy offered the use of our cars, but a lot of them preferred to run rather than drive. Less money, they'd said. Lia and Felix were there, so Lia was sitting next to me when we took a seat at the large dining room table so we could all talk. I was the first one to start.

"So when is the wedding?" Alice answered with a smile.

"We could have the wedding next weekend. But if we do that, then you and Jacob will be gone when Ryan and Valerie have their first birthday, so we can't have that. The next date we could do is July 12th." I shrugged.

"Good enough, I guess. If it's the only day where it won't be raining." Alice nodded.

"That's the plan. I talked to Billy and he suggested we have the reception at first beach. I personally think that's a wonderful idea. But I wanted to run the idea through you first." I smiled and nodded.

"I think that would be a good idea. We're already having the ceremony at the house, right?" Alice nodded.

"Yep. I figure we can have the ceremony start at around seven, seven thirty. And by the time Billy finishes marrying you and Jacob, it'll be nightfall and we won't have to worry about our skin shining."

"And we could have the bonfire." Momma said. Alice smiled and Lia grinned in surprise.

"There's going to be a bonfire?" I nodded.

"It's part of the traditional ceremony for a Quileute wedding." Lia grinned wider and bounced once.

"That's so cool. I can't wait. I've always wanted to dance around a bonfire." Felix smiled and patted Lia's head. She simply grinned a little more. "How would the bonfire normally work?"

"Normally, Jacob and I would say our vows while dancing around it, but that seemed like a little much, so we decided to save that for the reception." Alice nodded.

"And I thought that since you won't be handed corn and feathers and stone necklaces, we can always have a nice centerpiece with those things. It'll be just as significant I think. But we'll lay back on the corn." Alice giggled and daddy just rolled his eyes. I smiled while just about everyone else looked at us confused, not getting the joke behind it.

"What's wrong with corn?" Ada-María finally asked when Alice finished giggling. I answered her with the same smile.

"In most native American traditions, rock represents strength, feathers represent loyalty, and corn represents fertility." Marcelo grinned evilly and I heard daddy growl under his breath.

"Not having children, I see." I shook my head.

"We are. It'll just be a while before we do. Let's face it, college and a baby don't really mix well. I'd never have time for school." Marcelo shrugged.

"People with jobs manage it all the time."

"That's different. Those jobs bring home an income to take care of that baby. College doesn't provide an income. It just gives me the skills to find one. We're waiting to have kids until I have a job." Marcelo shrugged.

"Is that what your future sister-in-law is doing?" I didn't say yes or no, knowing already he was referring to Rachael and Paul.

"They both already have jobs. Rachael says they're waiting until they can afford a baby. For the time being, it's not something they can handle. But she's hoping they'll be able to start trying soon. She got a promotion at her job recently, so that should help out a lot." Marcelo smiled a little, but didn't respond further. Then Alice continued.

"I didn't think we needed to bother with a caterer. I'm sure we can all handle cooking the food for the reception. All that's left is to ask what Jacob's side would want to eat and what you think Aida and Madison would like. Charlie and Billy already said they're fine with whatever we do." I shrugged.

"I know Aida hates oranges." Alice nodded.

"Alright, then. Nothing with oranges. I ordered the cake to be half chocolate and half vanilla pound cake. I don't want to risk having cake that someone doesn't like. Each tier will have a different flavor. And seeing as we'll have so many people, I ordered five tiers."

"But not everyone will be eating." Alice shrugged.

"Madison, Mackenzie, and Coralline don't know that." I smiled at the last part.

"Coralline's coming." Alice nodded.

"Yeah. Aida told her about your wedding and Aida called and told me she wanted to come to the wedding."

"That's great."

"And she came yesterday, so she'll be here tomorrow for your bridal shower, so that'll be nice. She'll probably be at your bachelorette party too."

"Did you have any part in planning my bachelorette party, Alice." Alice smiled and shook her head.

"None at all." I gave her a sad face.

"Why not?" Alice shrugged.

"Like I said, it's not really my thing. And a bachelorette party is something your friends throw you as you last night of being single sort of thing. I just think it's something you and your friends should enjoy together."

"Do I get to go?" Lia asked me with a smile. Felix answered before I could speak.

"No." Lia looked at Felix with a sad face.

"Why not?" Felix sighed a little.

"Because, Lia. Bachelorette parties usually involve strippers and a lot of penis references. I'd rather not have you exposed to all that."

"But daddy…" Felix gave Lia a look and that silenced her. It was almost funny how, even now, Lia was so innocent and childlike.

"I never said anything about strippers." I looked at Alice. "Did Aida say anything about strippers?" Alice shrugged.

"She never called to tell me something like that. And since you're involved, I can't see what it is she's doing. I'm sorry, Nessie, but I can't help you with this one." Then I looked at daddy and he shook his head.

"I haven't seen her since the graduation party, and she wasn't thinking about anything along those lines at the time." I sighed.

"I guess I'll have to call her and let her know I don't want strippers." Ada-María gave me a weird look and daddy rolled his eyes at what she was thinking.

"Why? Strippers are fun." I was the one to give her the weird look now.

"And how would you know what a stripper's like?" Ada-María shrugged.

"One night, two strippers were my dinner. I followed them until they were in a spot where I could take them out without anyone seeing and in that process, I saw them perform. It was fun."

"Fun or not, I don't want strippers. I want to just do something fun with my friends, not stick a twenty in a strange man's crotch." Except for daddy, who was shuddering at the thought, everyone laughed at the comment and moved on once we were done laughing.

For about an hour, we talked a little more about the wedding and what would happen the day of. Ada-María, Lia, Madison, Amadora, and Aida were my bridesmaids and Alice said they'd already been fitted in their dresses, same with Valerie for her dress. Ryan would wear a little tux with a red vest as an accent. Billy was performing the ceremony and Alice told me that Jacob was still trying to decide who would be his best man.

When Alice was done telling me what was already planned, I walked to the cottage with momma and daddy for the night. When we got home, they kissed me goodnight and I went to do my nightly routine while they stayed in the living room playing a game of chess together. Even now, it was cute watching daddy play a game and not be able to cheat. He actually got frustrated whenever he played with momma. When I was clean and had taken a shower, I went to my room and said goodnight to momma and daddy one last time before going to my bed and tucking myself in. Before I fell asleep, I heard my phone ring the Gir Doom song. I groaned, having wished I could go to sleep and answered the text.

_Alright, Nessie. Tomorrow we have your bridal shower. And that night, I plan on taking you on the bachelorette party of your life._

_You didn't hire strippers, did you?_

_Of course I hired strippers. That's the best part of a bachelorette party. That and getting hammered out of your mind, but you hate alcohol so that's out._

_Not to mention you're not legal to drink._

_Minor details, Nessie. Minor details._ I laughed a little to myself before reading the rest of her text. _I've already paid the strippers, with my own money mind you. And I got a female stripper for Madison._

_That's rude of you. You don't even know she's gay._

……………_.You seriously haven't figured that out already?........_ I sighed and answered the text.

_She never said specifically that she's gay. Father said she's borderline._

_Meaning she's bisexual. God, Nessie, get on board._

_Either way, I don't want strippers at my bachelorette party. The only naked man I ever want to look at is Jacob. Not some stranger with a whole bunch of one dollar bills sticking out of his Speedos._

_Lol. What else are we going to do? Sit around at Mrs. Stanley's house and wait for her water to break? By the way, the doctor said Hailey will be coming any time this week._

_That's good news. I can't wait to see what Hailey looks like._

_Who cares? He's my irresponsible dad's love child. Back to more important things. Madison's mom opted to get us a reservation at a nice restaurant in Port Angeles. La Cancíon Mexicana, I think she said it was. So it's a Mexican restaurant needless to say._

_Doesn't matter where she reserves, I won't be eating. _

_Well, Madison doesn't know that, now does she? So we know you me and Madison are coming of course. Who else in your bridal party is coming? Are the Italian chick and the Mexican chick going to be there?_ I sighed.

_Lia's dad doesn't want her to go. He doesn't want her to be at a party where she'll be surrounded by dancing, half naked men. I was hoping I could assure Felix that wouldn't be the case, but that's out the window, thanks to you. And Ada-María isn't Mexican for the millionth time. She's Brazilian and Portuguese. And I know she's coming._

_Sounds like fun. It's a shame, I was looking forward to meeting Lia. I only saw her at a glance at the graduation party. I got to say, I didn't know Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderez had a baby._ I giggled a little to myself.

_I wouldn't say she looks like Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderez, but yeah, she's a beauty. According to daddy, she looks exactly like Felix' little sister from when he was human._

_That must be nice. I'm assuming him and his sister were close._

_Yeah, they were. They used to be joined by the hip, but she was murdered and it's really hurt him._

_  
That sucks. How'd she die?_

_His sister evidently caught Felix' wife with another man, she threatened to tell Felix, the wife didn't want that, so she pushed her off the side of the house and she hit her head and died._

_Epic._

_I think unfortunate or sad is the word you're looking for._

_Do all vampires have tragic life stories? _

_Not really. Some do, of course, but others were happy, prancing along and one day they happened to come across a vampire and now they're one today. Vampires will drink anyone's blood. It doesn't have to be a person that's miserable._

_Blood's blood I guess. So anyway, back to the bachelorette party. Is there anyone you know is going? I think Madison invited Mackenzie, so we have her._

_I invited Kim and Rachael and Emily. I don't know if they're coming, though. I do know Seth's girlfriend, Alyssa, is coming, though. And Amadora's coming to the party. She is one of my bridesmaids after all._

_Alright. That's five more people. So here's the plan. We go to your house for the bridal shower and that lasts a few hours. Then around six, a limo is coming to pick us up and take us to the restaurant. After that, we're going to the Hilton Hotel and that's where I sent the strippers. We'll have some more fun from there._

_Please don't get me strippers._

_Already paid for them, Nessie._ I sighed.

_Fine. But I'm not tipping them._

_Fine by me. They might not appreciate it, but hey, who cares? Just don't whine the whole time, please. You might not want strippers, but I do. And Madison agrees. You can close your eyes if you want._ I sighed.

_Would you let me give you back the money you paid for them and the money for the hotel? Anything that'll get rid of the strippers._

_Fine. You can pay me back for it if you really don't want them. The strippers cost about $400 and the hotel room cost $600._

_How did you even get that much?_

_I work, you know. That and Zeppelin helped me out._

_Zeppelin's okay with you hiring strippers?_

_Nessie, Zeppelin and I aren't like you and Jacob. You two believe in loving each other and just each other. Zeppelin and I like to be adventurous. We only have sex with each other, but if I decide I want to gawk at another man and get a lap dance from one, or vice versa, we don't say anything about it. It's the little unspoken agreement we have. Besides, he thinks it's cute._

_How is gawking at another man cute to him?_

_He likes kinky sex, Nessie. _

_Alright, you're done. I'll see you tomorrow._

_See you tomorrow. Night._ I didn't send a text back. I hooked my phone back up on the cord and groaned. I didn't have $900. With the thought, daddy came into my room and I looked up at a weird face.

"So you need nine hundred dollars to compensate your friend for strippers and a hotel room you don't want?" I nodded.

"At least this way, Lia can join us. We can tell Felix there won't be any strippers." Daddy sighed.

"I better not hear any thought about that from anyone when you guys get back. I'll demand you pay me back if I do." I nodded.

"Thanks daddy. Sorry about that." Daddy waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. I kind of expected Aida to hire strippers. I'd be surprised if she didn't to be perfectly frank." I smiled.

"Me too, honestly." Daddy laughed a little and walked over to kiss my forehead.

"I'll give Aida the money before you guys leave tomorrow. And I'll go back to the house and tell Felix the good news. I can't promise he'll let her go, but at least there's a chance he'll change his mind."

"Thanks, daddy." Daddy smiled.

"You're welcome, honey." He kissed my forehead again and walked out of my room and closed the door. I heard him tell momma where he was going and leave the house. Then I heard momma walk over and she let herself in my room. She was fighting a laugh.

"Strippers?"

"It was Aida's idea." Momma shook her head a little with her same humored smile.

"I know. It's just so funny."

"Stop making fun of me, momma." I hid under the covers and momma was at my bed before I could blink and started tickling me through the sheets.

Momma and I laughed as she tickled me and eventually, I lost my grip on my blanket and it went down so I was visible and momma kept tickling me. I tried kicking and tickling momma back, but being a vampire made her immune to being tickled, but I did it anyway. When momma and I laughed for a few minutes, she sat down on my bed and pulled me up so I was sitting next to her.

"You grew up too fast, Nessie. I miss when you were little." I smiled and hugged momma.

"I know, momma."

"I wish you could've been my baby just a little longer." I smiled and hugged her tighter.

"I'll always be your baby, momma. I'm just a grown one is all." Momma laughed and hugged me back.

"I know. But you don't need me anymore. You used to always want me to hold you and carry you around. I can't do that anymore."

"Sure you could, momma. It would just look a little odd." Momma laughed and cuddled her cheek against the top of my head.

"I know. I might make of for it with those grandkids you'll give me in a few years." I giggled.

"Spoil them all you want, momma." Momma giggled and hugged me tighter.

"Believe me, your father and I will spoil them like crazy."

"Don't spoil them too much. It's bad enough I probably will. They'll turn into little brats." Momma shrugged.

"Edward and I spoiled you rotten and you turned out just fine." I smiled.

"You also helped me learn my boundaries." Momma nodded.

"I like to think so. I'm glad we rarely ever had to really punish you. There's nothing more painful to a parent than having to punish your child."

"I know. I might have to let Jacob handle that. From what he tells me about how he was raised, I think he would be better at being the disciplinarian than me."

"I think that's just something men are better at. It doesn't mean they like it, I just think they're better able to handle the situation. But you need to remember something that I think a lot of parents these days tend to forget."

"What's that?"

"You and Jacob need to work together. You can't have him say one thing and you say another. That'll not only confuse a child, but you'll start unintentionally making Jacob out to be the bad guy and that's not good. You have to agree on the right course of action and stick to it."

"I know, momma. But we'll worry about that more when Jacob and I are actually ready for kids. I'm hoping that'll be in about four years." Momma laughed a little and kissed her forehead.

"So eager to grow up. Remember what Jacob and your father told you. 'Don't put your education on the back burner to grow up.'"

"I remember Jacob saying, 'Don't hold yourself back just to make me happy'."

"It's the same basic principle. All I'm saying is don't be too eager to start a family. If you start wanting it like that, something might happen and you'll end up pregnant even when you know you and Jacob aren't ready."

"Thanks for the advice momma."

"Any time, sweetheart. Just remember your father and I love you and we'll always be here to help the two of you. Even if you want a place to stay because you both had an argument." I shook my head.

"That'll never happen." Momma laughed again.

"It's already happened before. True love isn't what's portrayed in movies and books. True love is when you love someone despite anything that annoys you about that person. I mean, there are times when your father just infuriates me. It's not often, but it happens. Same thing With Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, even Carlisle and Esme. I've never seen it happen, but they wholeheartedly admit that it's happened." I smiled.

"I know. I just want to have some time to live in my bridal world and pretend we'll never argue." Momma smiled and kissed my head before letting go and standing up.

"I know what you mean, Nessie. Just try not to pretend for too long." I nodded.

"Alright, momma." Momma kissed my forehead one more time before she left my room and went back to the living room to wait for daddy to get back.

I fell asleep at long last and didn't wake up until the next morning. I felt warm arms wrapped around my waist that smelled of pine and maple. I smiled knowing it was Jacob. My Jacob. I turned in his arms and opened my eyes when I knew I was facing him. I smiled when I looked at his sleeping face. It was so peaceful. I could watch Jacob sleep all day. His face looked so innocent and childlike when he was asleep, almost like he turned into a little boy again in his sleep. For a few minutes, I simply laid there and watched him as he breathed evenly and smiled lightly in his sleep. I tried scooting closer to him without waking him so I could be a little closer to him.

I was relieved that he didn't wake up. I was amazed how Jacob was able to function the morning after patrol. I always nagged him about it for not getting enough sleep. When I did, Jacob always smiled and said he was sorry. He knew I only nagged because I cared. While looking at his face, I started thinking about the wedding. Just thinking about it made me giddy and gave me butterflies in my stomach. I waited three years for this and now that it was so close, waiting six weeks for the wedding seemed unbearably long. I had to laugh at myself for my impatience.

A few minutes later, I looked over my shoulder at my clock to see what time it was. It was nine in the morning. That was a good hour. I wanted to spend a little time with Jacob this morning before Alice kicked him out so he wouldn't see anything I got at my bridal shower. I wanted him there, but Alice told me it was one of those many bad luck things to have the groom at the bridal shower. I only held my tongue and let Alice handle everything. Not wanting to waste any time we had for today, I scooted the last inch or so to him and gave him a kiss. It started sweet and simple. But when he wasn't immediately awake, I licked his lip and tried to get him to open his mouth.

He didn't wake up still. So I scooted even closer and forced him on his back and took a seat on his hips straddling him and did the same thing. This time, he groaned from the push and breathed me in before wrapping his arms around me. It took a moment, but soon, he was dueling my tongue like I was with his and he was running his tongue all over my mouth and I shuddered when he licked the roof of my mouth and tickled me. I started giggling and Jacob smiled at me when I took my lips away.

"Morning, Jacob."

"Morning, Nessie. How'd you sleep?"

"Good. How about you?" He shrugged.

"Three hours. That's decent for a morning after patrol."

"You can stay here and get some more sleep if you want. Alice won't let you near the house today anyway." Jacob nodded.

"What does she think I'm going to see?"

"Jacob, it's a bridal shower. Brides get lingerie at their bridal showers." Jacob shrugged.

"It's not like I'll know what it is until I see it on you." I giggled and rubbed my nose against his a moment.

"It's supposed to be a surprise. You're not supposed to know what I'll be wearing to seduce you on our wedding night." Jacob chuckled and kissed me.

"You don't need anything special to seduce me, Nessie. Just walk in wearing nothing, and we'll be good to go."

"But that's letting you off easy. I want to tease you a little." Jacob chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"Don't be mean, Nessie. I'm a man. It's not nice to tease a man." I laughed with him and kissed the tip of his nose.

"So I've heard." Jacob smiled at me and reached his face to mine and kissed me sweetly. I kept the kiss simple. "Jacob."

"Yeah?" I took my lips away from his and rested my head on the pillow, never taking my eyes off him.

"Remember last night before you left for patrol? You said there were relatives that you never told me about. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad that you wouldn't want to tell me about them." Jacob sighed.

"Nessie, you know my dad and sisters. That's the living relatives and they're all you need to know." I shrugged.

"I've never even seen a picture of your mom." Jacob sighed and rested his hand over his face. Then that hand reached down to his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, which he handed to me.

"She's behind one of your pictures."

I smiled a little and opened his wallet and looked through the collection of pictures he had in there. I was fighting the smile that most of the pictures he had were of me. One from when I was just born, a few days old, me playing with something, my first birthday, our vacation to Florida together. There were also pictures of him and his friends, but I could tell they were from when they were younger. I fought a laugh when I saw Jacob as a teenager. I suppose he wasn't lying when he said he used to be scrawny looking. In the picture, he was thin as vanilla bean, but he still had that smile that I loved so much. Then finally, after going through several pictures, I found a picture at the end of a woman with a much younger looking Billy.

She really was stunning. It was plain to the eyes that she was Jacob's mother. He had her smile and gorgeous white teeth with the same ears and sparkling dark eyes. Because the picture was obviously from the eighties, she was wearing a shoulder padded dress that, in plain truth, looked like it belonged on a couch. And she wore a lot of makeup. But her hair was straight and thick looking and reminded me of Jacob's hair whenever it started growing out.

"She's so pretty." Jacob smiled.

"Isn't she? I don't remember her much, so the picture's all I really have of her. That and her hair brush that I keep in my dresser drawer." I looked up suddenly.

"I never saw that before." Jacob shrugged.

"I know. Rachael has our mom's red lipstick and Rebecca claimed mom's favorite dress which is what she's wearing in this photo. And Billy keeps her wedding dress hung in his closet at all times." I smiled.

"That's so sweet. Why didn't you want to tell me about this?"

"It wasn't my mother I didn't want to tell you about. It was my grandparents. But seeing as it's been brought up, I suppose not talking about it would turn it into the pink elephant in the room that no one's talking about." I giggled and nodded.

"Why do you hate talking about them? I can't image they're that bad if you and Billy are so nice." Jacob laughed without humor.

"Please. It's a miracle Billy and I are even remotely normal. But thanks to the Psychology class I took in high school, I know that a lot of what they used to do caused a great deal of pent up aggression that I have. Freud would have a field day with me." I smiled and kissed his chest.

"Oh Jacob, I can think of hundreds of people that Freud would be more intrigued with then you. You're too normal." Jacob laughed a little.

"I try to be." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Jacob, I like to think I've seen both the best and the worst of you. And there's nothing there that I would think would cause concern. But we're getting off topic. Why do you dislike your grandparents?" Jacob sighed.

"Because my grandpa was a raging alcoholic who smoked like a chimney, gambled away everything he owned, and cheated on my grandma every chance he got. And he used to hit me like nobody's business. I mean, Billy would only hit me when I did something really bad. Grandpa never really needed a reason." My eyes widened.

"You mean he used to beat you?" Jacob shrugged.

"Raging alcoholics do that sometimes. Mom never wanted me near them. They didn't like my mom anyway if I remember correctly. And this is the man that taught me how to swim by hurling me into the ocean at age four."

"That's horrible!" Jacob smiled and took me in his arms and pulled me closer to him.

"Now you know why I hated them so much. And because grandpa was always so mean to me, grandma used to attempt to spoil me out of pity. One way she did that was give me a speak and spell."

"A what?"

"A speak and spell. It's that little toy that teaches you how to spell, but it sounds like Satan, so it scared the shit out of me. It scared Seth too and he ended up destroying it with a baseball bat." I finally laughed a little.

"Did he really?" Jacob nodded with a smile.

"Yeah. He was crying, 'your toy's a demon, your toy's a demon', then he got my bat and destroyed it. Grandma wasn't too happy when she found out, but I was glad to be rid of it. That thing gave me nightmares." I giggled and caressed his cheek.

"So what happened to them? Are they both dead?" Jacob shook his head.

"Grandma isn't. When grandpa passed away, she moved to Las Vegas. Grandpa died when I was ten."

"How did he die?" Jacob looked at me a smiled.

"Before I tell you, keep in mind that my grandparents hated each other."

"Okay."

"My grandma had a pecking order of people she loved." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"A pecking order?" Jacob nodded and laughed a little. Then he brought his hand where I could see it and moved his hand up as he spoke.

"Yeah. It went him, the dirt, the worms inside that dirt, her stool, John F. Kennedy, then her." I laughed a little.

"John F. Kennedy." Jacob nodded.

"She had a huge crush on him. And she really liked Bobby Kennedy too."

"I won't argue. The Kennedy brothers were damn good looking men." Jacob laughed.

"I guess. They're good looking as far as American presidents are concerned."

"Barack Ohbama's hot." Jacob shrugged.

"Yeah, but he has an unfair advantage. He's half black and half white. All half black half white people are hot. Look at Rhianna. And Beyoncé, assuming she's half white. I can't remember if she is or not." I giggled.

"Isn't that a bit racist?"

"Half black kids are beautiful, Nessie. That's not being racist, that's just an ironic fact of life." I smiled and snuggled into his chest.

"That's such a nice thing to say. Now, you were saying about how your grandpa died?"

"Oh. Okay, sorry, but before I tell you, remember this. My grandpa used to say to my grandma all the time, and I quote, 'I would rather burn in hell than be married to nappy old hag like you'. Keep that in mind."

"Okay. That's an awful thing to say to your wife, but keep going."

"His saying that is why his death is funny. Or maybe ironic is the word."

"How could your grandpa's death possibly be funny?" Jacob grinned a little.

"Okay, here's what happened. I was ten years old and grandpa and I were in the garage and he was teaching me how to build an engine. He had oil all over his hands. After we worked for about an hour, he walked away from the car and lit himself a cigarette. But he had the lighter too close to his hand and the oil that was on him caught fire. He panicked and fell on a bottle of lighter fluid he had and that made him burst into flames. He ran out of the garage screaming for help and I started hitting him with a blanket, not sure what else to do. Reluctantly, mind you, grandma finally called the ambulance when she saw what was happening. He was dead by the time the ambulance came."

I stared at Jacob wide eyed for a long time. Jacob was smiling, but I couldn't see the humor in it. It was hardly funny when a family member burst into flames and died.

"That's hardly funny, Jacob."

"You have to admit it has some morbid humor to it. He always said he'd rather burn, and look, he did. Besides, he made my childhood unpleasant. So when it happened, I didn't feel pity for him."

"That's still horrible. How did that not scar you for life?"

"It did. I've never touched a cigarette in my life."

"That's hardly a bad thing. At least Billy was upset, I'm sure." Jacob shook his head.

"Nope. He made Billy's life a living hell too. Same thing with my uncle Bobby. If anything, the occurrence made Billy quit smoking."

"You have an Uncle Bobby? Why have I never met him?"

"Because he's dead. He was drunk and driving a motorcycle, he ran head on into a truck and was killed instantly. I was only six at the time. It was only two years after my mom died."

"Oh." Jacob smiled.

"Don't worry, Billy doesn't talk about him much. I think he was about four or five years older than Billy."

"Now I feel bad." Jacob gave me a weird look.

"Why would you feel bad? It's not like any of it was your fault." I shrugged.

"I know. But this is obviously something that's sad and you don't like talking about and I just had to make you talk about it." Jacob smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Don't feel bad. I would've told you eventually anyway. You'll be my wife soon. You should know things about me even if they aren't that pleasant. I know things about you and your family that aren't too pleasant." I smiled.

"That's true, I guess."

"It's very true. I didn't want to talk about family now, but nows as good a time as any."

"Thanks for telling me. I know it's not the most comfortable thing to talk about. We never have to talk about it again if you don't want." Jacob smiled and kissed me.

"That would be nice, thank you." I smiled and kissed him.

"Okay. Let's change the subject. Have you decided who you want your best man to be?" Jacob sighed.

"No. It would be more appropriate if Paul were because he's my brother-in-law. But then again, Quil and Embry were two of my best friends growing up. But Seth was there to help me even when things were at their worst. It's a hard call."

"Would any of them be heartbroken if you didn't choose them?" Jacob shook his head.

"Paul wouldn't, that much I know. Seth would understand. Embry and Quil are the ones that really want it." I smiled.

"That puts it down to two, I guess." Jacob smiled.

"Not really. I'm trying to think of who's the better choice and I'm no closer to a decision than the day I told the guys I was proposing." I smiled and reached up to kiss his nose.

"You'll do the right thing. I know you will." Jacob smiled.

"I hope so." Then Jacob pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly. "So what's this I'm hearing about you having strippers at your bachelorette party?" I started giggling and shook my head a little.

"I told Aida to cancel them. Daddy said he'd compensate her for it, but I told her to make sure there weren't any. In plain truth, the idea of watching a half naked man dance around doesn't sound that enticing." Jacob chuckled.

"I'm glad to hear that. Honestly, I was prepared to get mad about this, but you've kind of left me with nothing." I smiled.

"Just because you brought it up, are you getting strippers?"

"No!" I laughed a little at Jacob's tone. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes a little. "You should know I wouldn't do something like that."

"I do know that. But how do I know Embry won't hire some? He the only really single friend you have and he doesn't know imprinting quite the way the rest of you do." Jacob shook his head.

"Embry won't do that. He knows what it's like for someone who imprinted. He knows that devotion that's there and he knows that getting me or anyone of us a stripper wouldn't be fun for us. People get strippers because they feel like they're getting a last taste of something they're giving up. I'm not giving up anything as far as I'm concerned. I've done nothing but gain since I met you." I smiled wider.

"Same here." Jacob chuckled and kissed me again.

"Okay. So we've talked about your future in-laws, my best man, and strippers. Is there anything else you can think of that we need to address?" I smiled and nodded. "Alright, baby. What's next on the agenda?" I blushed at the pet name and went on to answer.

"What will you and the guys be doing for your bachelor party?"

"They'll probably just get me hammered and I'll wake up with a sickening hangover. How about you?"

"Well, not everyone is legally able to drink, so that's out. I don't like alcohol anyway. We're just going out and having dinner together." Jacob smiled.

"It sounds so innocent."

"Don't worry. Aida will figure out a way to make it vulgar. Watch, she probably got me a penis cake or something." Jacob started laughing and shaking his head. I waited for his laugh to die down, smiling along with him.

"That sounds like something she'd do. But you don't eat cake, so there's not much point." I shrugged.

"I have plenty of guests that will like it. But don't brae the word to Felix or he won't let Lia go."

"How old is Lia again?" I shrugged.

"About three or so. Why?"

"By the time you were three, you knew about that sort of stuff. She'll learn about that stuff eventually, anyway."

"I know. But I think Felix wants to keep her a little girl as long as he can. Daddy told me that Felix remembers his sister being really innocent like that even when she was grown. I guess he wants to keep her innocent the way his sister, Lia, was."

"It was ancient Rome, how innocent could she possibly be? These were people that publically announced orgies and had little whore houses where you did drugs together. It's hardly the environment for an innocent to be perfectly blunt."

"I don't know, Jacob. It's Felix' memories, not mine. And who cares? I think it makes Lia adorable."

"I never said she wasn't. I'll admit, sometimes, I just want to hug her. But she can't be that way forever." I started giggling and Jacob gave me a weird. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

"No, tell me." I sighed with a smile.

"I was just thinking about how much your opinion would change if we were talking about our daughter."

"We don't have a daughter."

"Not yet. But one day, when we do, you'll feel the same way Felix does. Don't pretend you don't want to keep her innocent forever, even though you know it won't work."

"That's different."

"How so?"

"Because it'll be our daughter, that's how so." I started laughing again and buried my face in Jacob's chest. Even though I was laughing, Jacob kept going. "My future daughter is too good for that kind of crap. If I say there's something she doesn't need to know, then damn it, she won't know it."

"You're being so unrealistic, Jacob." I forced out the words through my laughter and kept shaking my head at him repeatedly, still buried in his chest.

"It's my kid, I can be as unrealistic as I want." I rolled my eyes and tried to control my laughter.

"No point in arguing over it now. That's years from now." Jacob sighed.

"Years won't change my mind about it, just so you know."

"Sure, sure, Jacob. Whatever you say."

Jacob only smiled innocently and it made me laugh again. For the rest of the morning, Jacob and I stayed together in my room and talked to each other for another two hours. We didn't leave my room until Alice came barging into my room and dragged me to the house for my bridal shower. I gave Jacob a quick kiss before leaving him to run home or go hang out with Quil or Embry.

When I got there, the only ones there were the women. Daddy was nowhere to be found and neither were any of the other guys that were staying at the house. Alice had sent them out to go hunting and get them out of our hair as she put it. Madison leaped into my arms and hugged me tight when I entered the house and didn't let go until Aida spanked her again, earning a yelp and yelling from Madison. I took a seat on the couch between Lia and Ada-María. Madison took a spot at my feet.

"I can't believe you're getting married, Nessie. It's so exciting." I smiled while Madison smiled from her comment and clapped her hands.

"It really is."

"You're going to have so much fun at the bachelorette party." Aida rolled her eyes at Madison.

"You do know I fired the strippers, right?" Madison looked surprised.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because Nessie didn't want strippers." Madison became even more surprised and looked back at me.

"Why wouldn't you want strippers? That's the best part. We can't get liquor." I shrugged.

"I just don't want strippers."

"But Nessie!" I sighed.

"Madison, I'm sorry. But half naked dancing men doesn't strike me as appealing." Aida smiled a little in humor and pinched Madison when she was about to complain more. Madison started yelling at Aida for it and Valerie was the one to finally shut them up.

"Madison. Nessie's wedding, Nessie's bachelorette party, if she says no strippers, there will be no strippers. Now stop arguing and let Nessie open her naughty presents." Everyone laughed a little and Alice jumped right into Valerie's advice and handed me my first gift.

"This is from me. It's more for you than anything." I smiled and took the present from Alice. I ripped the paper and pulled open the box to reveal a little pink t-shirt that had bride written across the chest.

"Aw. Thanks Alice." Alice smiled.

"You'll be wearing that during the bachelorette party. The restaurant will give you free gifts if you do." I smiled.

"Alright, Alice. I'll be sure to wear it when we go out to dinner." They all smiled and momma stood and handed me the present from her.

"This is from me and your father." I took it and smiled at her before opening my present. It was another box and about the same size as Alice's gift. When I opened the box, I saw two champagne classes with my name on one and Jacob's name on the other.

"Oh, they're beautiful. Thanks momma."

"You only use them once, but it's a nice little thing to keep as memorabilia." I looked at momma after taking out the glass with Jacob's name on it.

"I could always take this one with me to college and keep it in my dorm. That'd be really sweet." Rosalie smiled, but looked concerned. I looked at her questioningly. "Why would that be bad?" Rosalie shrugged.

"Well, Nessie, you've got to remember that you'll be in a dorm room. And students tend to party a lot and something might happen to it. Especially since you'll be getting a roommate."

"I'll make sure it stays safe. Maybe I'll keep it in the little box and take it out to look at it every now and then." Rosalie shrugged.

"As long as it works. I wouldn't want that to get destroyed. It's a nice thing to have." I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks again, momma. It's alright if Jacob sees this right?" Momma laughed a little and nodded. "Thanks." Then Alice handed me another present.

"This one's from Rosalie and Emmett." Rosalie laughed a little.

"It's more from Emmett to Jacob than from me to you. Jacob's the only one that would get any enjoyment out of it." I gave Rosalie a weird look.

"What is it?" Rosalie smiled and shrugged.

"I don't know. Open it." I smiled nervously and tore the paper from the box. I stopped ripping when I saw the title on the box and started laughing. Rosalie laughed too. "Like I said, it was Emmett's idea."

"Body chocolate?" Rosalie nodded.

"I assume I don't need to explain how that stuff works."

"No, I've got a pretty clear picture how it's used."

"Good." After the talk, I covered the box with the paper that was still tapped to it and placed it on the table with the other gifts. I glanced at Aida and she laughed fighting a laugh.

"It's not that funny, Aida." She shook her head.

"That's not why I'm laughing."

"Why are you laughing then?" Aida smiled a moment before reaching over to a box and handed it to me.

"Open my present and find out." I felt a chill go down my spine.

"Oh god, what did you get me?" Aida grinned.

"That's only one of them. Keep that in mind." I shuddered.

"Wonderful." I sighed and Aida smirked before I took another deep breath and slowly tore at the paper. I stopped the moment I saw the title on the box. _Behind Closed Doors_. "A sex game?" Aida nodded.

"Yep. You play it like a regular board game. It has 25 position cards, foreplay cards, and item cards and you collect them as you play. The first one to get their player token to the winning circle gets to maneuver their acquired cards in a manner to pleasure their partner." I looked at Aida a moment without saying anything. She didn't even blink while I looked at her.

"You have this game don't you?" She smiled.

"Use it all the time." I sighed. "It's not the only one I got you, so don't get all sighing on me."

"Are they all sex games?" She shook her head.

"Not all of them. One of them is a blow up husband doll. You're supposed to throw punches at it like you would for one of those clown balloon toys to vent out anger. And I got you a 1,000 Sex Games board game and edible underwear."

Despite the awkwardness of it, everyone started laughing at the look on my face. I was sure it must've been either blank or stunned. Either way, I was unbearably embarrassed. I wondered if I could give it to Emmett and Rosalie or anyone other than myself. With nothing else to do, I placed the gifts back on the table. There was no point in opening the rest since she just told me what they were. Then Madison took the opportunity to hand me her gift.

"This one's from me, Nessie." Aida rolled her eyes.

"And believe me, she had way too much fun picking it out." Madison glared at Aida over her shoulder before smiling back at me again.

"Don't listen to her, Nessie. I'm sure you love it." Aida laughed again.

"We sure as hell know Jacob will." Madison glared at Aida again.

"Will you shut up and let her open her damn present?!" Aida held up her hands defensively and sat back. When she did, Madison looked back at me again with a smile. "Now let's see what it is."

"Just assure me it isn't a sex game." She shook her head.

"It's not a sex game." I sighed.

"Good. Obviously, I'm already stocked up on those, thanks to Aida." Aida and everyone else started laughing.

When they were done laughing, I tore the paper and breathed a sigh of relief that there was no writing on the box. Then I opened it and saw see through lace and realized what it was. It was one of those shear white teddies that women would often wear for their wedding night. I should've expected it I suppose.

"Aren't you going to show it to us, Nessie?" I looked up and glared a little bit at Heidi while everyone giggled.

"You already know what it is." Heidi shrugged and Chelsea spoke next.

"That doesn't mean we've seen it." Alice waved her hand to silence everyone.

"Now, now, ladies, the last thing Nessie wants is to show us her knickers. Let Jacob's present be her little secret." I felt my face burning in a blush while everyone laughed. Then I felt someone pat my head and looked over to see momma sitting next to me. I looked at Madison and saw that her eyes were closed from laughing. What a relief, she didn't see momma move.

"Guys, leave Nessie alone." Then momma pulled me a little closer into a hug. Alice smiled.

"Sorry, Bella, but we didn't get to do this with you. We're just taking advantage of a special occasion. You know we don't get many of those." Momma nodded.

"I know. But you're embarrassing her."

"Momma." Momma looked at me.

"Yeah?"

"Are any of my other gifts, prank gifts?" Momma sighed.

"Chelsea and Heidi got you some lingerie, but that's all. You have one other present from me and your father. Two photo albums for your wedding pictures. One for you while you're at college and one for Jacob." I smiled.

"That's a nice gift." Momma nodded.

"I knew you would like that." I smiled and hugged momma back before Esme ran off to get some beverages for everyone. Aida and Madison were the only ones with actual beverages. The rest of us just had cups of donated blood Carlisle had stocked up for the wedding. If they wouldn't eat, we could at least pretend they were drinking something.

After a few more hours of sitting and talking about the wedding and Alice running me upstairs to change into my bride shirt, Madison got a text and announced that the limo had arrived at the house. Momma gave me a kiss and told me and the other girls not to get in trouble. Madison, Aida, Lia, Ada-María, Amadora, Octavia, and I hopped into the limo and I gave the driver the address to Paul and Rachael's house. She said she'd be off work by now and that she'd be waiting for us to pick her up. We stopped at Forks to pick up Mackenzie first.

When we got to Paul and Rachael's house, I stepped out and ran through the rain that had suddenly come pouring down to their door and rang to doorbell. Paul was the one to answer and he looked a little annoyed about something.

"Is something wrong?" Paul shrugged.

"Not exactly. Rachael's just taking her time to get ready." I smiled.

"Why would that annoy you?" He shrugged again.

"Well, because I told her she should start getting ready thirty minutes ago and she told me it could wait. Then she lost all track of time and now she and Rebecca and rushing." I widened my eyes in surprise.

"Rebecca's here? Already?" Paul smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. They got here this morning. It's a bit early, but John and Rebecca have plenty of time off work for the summer anyway. You don't mind if she goes do you?" I shook my head.

"No, not at all. I would love to have her."

"Good. They'll be out in a minute. Would you like to come in and wait?" I shook my head.

"No, it's okay. I'll wait out here."

"You sure?" I nodded.

"Yeah. They won't be that long." As if on cue, Rachael and Rebecca came running out of the room at the end.

"Sorry, sorry. We're coming." Rachael ran over with Rebecca close behind. Then she turned to Paul a moment. "I'll be back by midnight, honey."

"Sure, Rachael. Have fun." She smiled and kissed him really quick.

"We will."

Once Rachael and Paul said their goodbyes, we all ran back to the limo and drove to Port Angeles to the Mexican restaurant that Madison's mom had booked for us. Lia, Amadora, Octavia, Ada-María, and I were sure to order food, but we all sat at the same side of the table and picked at the food, hiding it in random spots, like our napkins. Aida was sitting next to me, so she snuck a few bites of my food to help me out a little. Rachael and Rebecca did the same for Lia and Amadora, whom they were sitting next to.

After dinner, as promised, Aida didn't take us to a hotel for strippers. Momma had paid her the nine hundred dollars back before we left. Instead, we went to a laser tag arcade and played that together for about four hours. It cost a lot, but Aida was nice enough, though did so begrudgingly, to pay for all of us.

After the night was done, the limo driver dropped off my friends and dropped me and my house guests off last. When we got back, daddy and all the other men had gotten back from hunting. I caught father glaring at my gifts a moment and mumbling to Emmett how horrible his gift to me was. Emmett, to which, said, 'at least I didn't buy her Behind Closed Doors', and that was the end of that conversation. Felix looked a little annoyed by the fact that Lia had seen such things, but otherwise, he said nothing about it. I walked over to daddy and hugged him when Emmett walked away to be with Rosalie.

"Don't be mad about my gifts daddy. They're all just prank gift. You know, the kind of stuff that you get and laugh about before sticking it in your attic or closet and never speak of it again." Daddy sighed.

"I've already given those things to Emmett and Rosalie. They're more into that sort of stuff after all." I shuddered. "I know you don't want to know that kind of stuff, Nessie, but neither do I." Daddy looked at me with a smile. "If I have to suffer, so do you." I smiled and laughed a little.

"That's so mean, daddy." He laughed with me for a moment.

"Sorry, honey. By the way, Jacob came over while you were gone." I smiled a little more.

"He did?" Daddy nodded.

"Yeah. He talked to Esme about her offer to make you and him a nice house. Esme's starting it first thing tomorrow, so it should be done before the wedding." I grinned from ear to ear.

"That's wonderful." Daddy nodded.

"And Alice is fully in charge of the closet, so never fear, you'll always have room." I laughed to myself.

"I can't wait to see it when it's done. So where did Jacob go?"

"Embry decided that, since you were having your bachelorette party tonight that they should have Jacob's tonight too."

"So they're out drinking basically?"

"Pretty much. I'd hate to be Jacob in the morning, that's all I'll say." I giggled and nodded my head.

"Poor thing. A pin drop will hurt his ears I'm sure. Maybe I should go there in the morning and try to make him feel better." Then I smiled and looked up at daddy and he shook his head at my thoughts.

"Absolutely not, Nessie. I know what the man's like when he's drunk and he's hardly rational. You can wait until tomorrow when he's in too much pain to want much of anything." I sighed.

"Fine. I'll wait until tomorrow." Daddy smiled.

"Thank you, Nessie. And another thing. We got mail from Northwestern about your dorm arrangements."

"You did?" He nodded.

"You're staying in Elder Hall in room 312 and you have a roommate named Samantha. Her email's in the letter if you want to contact her and get to know her a little before you have to move in together."

"I'll do that before I go to the cottage." Then I sighed. "Oh man, I'm all the way on the south part of campus. I'm far away from everything." Daddy shrugged.

"I tried to get you a place closer to your classes, but those were full already. That's why you apply early honey." I sighed at daddy's lecturing, but still teasing tone. "And you need to register for classes. You have until the end of July before you can't apply anymore." I nodded.

"I'll do that later, daddy." Daddy raised an eyebrow at me and I sighed. "Alright, now." Daddy smiled.

"That's my girl. And Email your roommate while you're doing that. You don't have to take an English or foreign language, so don't worry about those. Just get a science lab class, a math class, and a something that you think you'll like. I'll come over when you're done with that and we'll buy the books you need."

"Alright, daddy." Daddy smiled and kissed my forehead before going to the kitchen where momma was with Esme while I walked over to the computer and started working. Lia took a seat next to me and watched me.

"You have a roommate, huh?" I nodded. "That sucks." I looked at her.

"Why do you say that?" Lia shrugged.

"I don't know. I just assumed that you and Jacob would want that room to yourself so you could be alone whenever he visited." The moment she said that, I rolled my eyes at myself and let my head fall onto the desk.

"Damn it. I can't believe I didn't think of that." Lia patted my back.

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'm sure you and Jacob will work something out. Besides, you can always try to get a single room next year when you change dorms." I shrugged.

"That's true, I guess." Lia smiled and hugged me before I went back to work on looking for classes.

I ended up choosing a Calculus 2 class for math. I took AP Calculus in high school, but that, to them, didn't mean I could handle Statistics, so I was starting with something small. For science, I chose a Zoology class. It was a class where you studied animals and got to cut them open, so it sounded like fun. I got myself into a Psychology class too. It was something one never stopped using and I always had fun with the subject. Finally, for a second elective class, I got myself into Paleontology. Not only would I study animals, I'd get to study dinosaurs. That was always fun. As soon as I was done, daddy was standing behind me and started maneuvering around the site to pay for my needed text books.

"Paleontology, huh?" I nodded.

"It sounds like fun."

"It is. I was hoping you'd do Physics, but hey, that can be later." I sighed. "I know you're annoyed, honey, but remember. I'm getting on your case because I want you to do well and I love you. And any kind of science is a good field to get into. Science will never die, even if you want it to." I giggled a little and so did Lia, who was still sitting next to me.

"I know, daddy. I like science anyway, so I'll probably do something in that. I just don't know what." Daddy grinned.

"Biochemistry, sweetheart." I sighed. (*Sorry, just a side note. But Biochemistry's my major by the way, in case I haven't made that slightly obvious. ;)*)

"I said I'd consider it, daddy." He smiled and kissed my head after paying for my books.

"That's my girl." Then daddy walked back to the kitchen with momma and I stayed at the house a few more minutes before going back to the cottage and going to bed.

That morning, I got myself ready and hugged everyone goodbye before driving over to Jacob's house. When I got there and was in front of his door, I let myself in as quietly as possible and walked over as slowly as possible. When I reached Jacob's room, I saw him lying face down in bed still wearing his clothes from the night before. I sighed and smiled to myself. He was really going to have one hell of a headache once he woke up. I went to the cabinet and got him some Excedrin and a glass of water and placed it on his table. The sounds made him groan and I froze.

"Ah man." I smiled a little.

"How was your night?" Jacob scrunched his eyes.

"You sounds like you're yelling right now. So obviously, I must've had a good time."

"You don't remember?" Jacob shook his head.

"I remember sitting in the living room watching the Colbert Report when Embry called and told me to get ready for my bachelor party. Next thing I knew, we were at a bar in Port Angeles and I was doing tequila shots right and left." I giggled and Jacob groaned again. "Ow."

"Take the Excedrin. It'll get rid of the headache. Would you like some breakfast?" Jacob looked up at me.

"It wouldn't stay down, so I'd recommend against feeding me right now." I fought a giggle, knowing it would hurt.

"You're right, I'm sure." Jacob smiled and sat up to take his pills. Once they were down, he laid back down on his back and motioned for me to come to him. I took a spot on his bed and rested my head on his chest.

"So how was your bachelorette party?"

"It was fun. We had Mexican food and played laser tag." Jacob smiled.

"Sounds great. What kind of gifts did you get for the bridal shower?"

"Lingerie obviously. And Aida gave me a few sex board games." Jacob laughed a moment before scrunching his face again in pain.

"Cute." I nodded.

"Can I tell you something private?" Jacob nodded.

"You know you can." I sighed.

"One game sounded really fun." Jacob looked at me, intrigued.

"Really?" I nodded.

"It was called Behind Closed Doors." Jacob laughed out again, and once again scrunched in pain. I waited a minute for him to talk.

"I've heard of that one. Rachael got that for Emily."

"Oh god, how many people have this game?" Jacob smiled and shrugged.

"Anyone who's had a bridal shower and friends with a twisted sense of humor." I smiled and snuggled into Jacob's chest.

"And I have both." Jacob nodded.

"Yep." We laid together for a few minutes without talking. I was waiting for Jacob's headache to calm a little before talking again.

Jacob was given the rest of summer off because of our wedding, so Jacob didn't have to go to work. We spent the whole day together. First, we stayed in bed and didn't leave until Jacob's head stopped pounding. When it did, we went to the living room and watched a B-rated horror film and made fun of it. Then Jacob decided he wanted something to eat and took me to Port Angeles.

The whole time we were in Port Angeles, we held hands and swayed them back and forth without a care in the world. It was so nice to be like this. As we walked, I told him about the classes I would be taking and what my roommate's name was and the name of my dorm. Jacob was thrilled. He was a little sad to hear that I had a roommate, but as Lia said, we would figure something out. And as we walked together, thoughts of the wedding kept running through my mind. I imagined what it would be like and how happy I would be. While we were walking, we even decided to write our own vows. It seemed only appropriate.

At one point, I simply wanted to kiss him and we stood together against a bookshelf just kissing when we went into a bookstore to escape the rain. And we didn't stop until a clerk found us and kicked us out. That seemed to make our day together all the better. I stayed at Jacob's that night, not wanting to go back to the house. It suddenly felt like there were too many people there. I wanted to just be with Jacob. We kissed for most of the evening and I never got tired of it. And even though I wanted to go further, part of me wanted to wait until the big night, since we'd already waited this long. I loved Jacob all the more for being so controlled about it, even though I was sure it wasn't easy for him to stop. And when we went to bed, we simply told each other, 'I love you'.

*_Alright everyone, awesome news. The new story I've told you guys about is now up. It's called Aurora and is starting out with chapters about Heidi. It says there's four chapters, but there's really only one. The way I have it set up is purely for the sake of organization, so please don't let that confuse you. I really hope you like it and review if you do._

_And one more thing. I don't know if anyone of you either goes to Northwestern University in Evanston Chicago or used to go there. But if you do, I would love for you to email me and let me know so we can email about it. I already know the campus and such. Now I want to know what the experience is. If I ever did go to Northwestern, it wouldn't be until I was a junior in college anyway, and I know no one's willing to wait that long. So email me about your experience there as a student if you are or were one. Thanks a lot for your help. And worry not, the wedding is the next chapter._


	22. Now, From Now, And Forever More

**Now, From Now, And Forever More**

_Okay, let's try this. If you want to see Nessie's dress, go to , look under collection and click on wedding gowns which will take you to a gown search page. When you get there, check Jim Hjelm under designer, mermaid under silhouette, check strapless under neckline. Don't worry about the other things, leave them as all. Then click search. You'll be taken to a page with four dress options. Nessie's dress is the last one, Style No. 31574783. I hope now everyone can see Nessie's dress._

As the month wore on, it felt unbearably slow. Shortly after my bachelorette party, Alice set the house up to celebrate Ryan and Valerie's first birthday. As before, all the family was invited. We needed all the human and wolf family we could get to eat the large cake Alice bought. I laughed a little to myself when Alice handed it to those eating the cake and Yaretzi picked at the icing.

"You like icing?" I asked Yaretzi and she nodded with a smile.

"Of course. It's pure sugar after all." I giggled and nodded my head.

"I guess it is isn't it." She nodded and then turned her attention to Rafael. He looked a little grossed out by Yaretzi's taste, which he always expressed with loving teasing. Just to tease him more, Yaretzi took a huge bite of icing and kissed Rafael. He remained composed, but Yaretzi laughed at his expression, seeing something on his face that only she could see.

Then, I felt someone tap my shoulder gently and I looked towards who it was. Jacob was smiling and he reached his head down to me and kissed me. I took his kiss eagerly, but then he dipped in his tongue and all I tasted was a muddled flavor that was overactive and unpleasant on my tongue.

"Jacob!" He started laughing and shook his head before kissing my nose.

"I couldn't resist, Nessie."

"I'll get back at you for that, you know." Jacob raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Bring it on, baby." I gave Jacob a halfhearted, angry pout and he just smiled and turned his attention back to his cake. He hadn't gotten a chance to start eating it, so I got an idea. He would need to react just the way I wanted him to or this wouldn't go well at all.

Jacob cut part of his piece with his fork and was about to bring it to his mouth, but I grabbed the fork and took the bite of cake from him. I swallowed it whole, not wanting to taste it. Jacob looked at me with sad eyes.

"I was going to eat that."

"Sorry, Jacob. I couldn't resist." Jacob gave me the same halfhearted glare before breaking another piece of cake and bringing it to his mouth. But as before, I snatched the fork and ate it, avoiding tasting it as much as possible.

"Nessie, stop it."

"I told you I'd get back at you, baby."

"By eating my cake?" I grinned wider.

"Promise you won't do what you did ever again and I'll stop." Jacob looked at me a moment with his playful glare, then at his cake. Then to me, and back to the cake. Then he handed me the piece of cake and kissed the top of my head.

"The cake isn't that good, Nessie." Then Jacob stood up and walked over to Quil and Claire.

I sat there a moment just staring at the cake and I heard Yaretzi and Rafael laughing lightly behind me. Finally, I took a deep breath and placed the piece of cake on the table in front of me. Marcelo took Jacob's seat next to me and I looked up and saw Jacob start watching us closely. I smiled a little to myself. Even now, he insisted on keeping a close eye on Marcelo.

"I would never do such a deplorable thing to you, meu encantadora." I sighed.

"I know. What you would do is far more inappropriate." Marcelo faked an appalled face and put his hand on his chest defensively.

"Renesmee, I'm hurt. You think I would do anything to you that would be deplorable?" Marcelo scooted closer to me and took my hand in his and brought it to his lips. "I would only do those things behind closed doors, just like any gentleman."

After he spoke, I saw something hit Marcelo's head. It was a large black umbrella. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Ada-María sitting behind Marcelo with a little smirk on her face. The site made me laugh and Marcelo was immediately angry.

"Now, Marcelo, what has mama told you about hitting on married women?" I heard Marcelo growl as he turned his head to look at Ada-María.

"Renesmee is not a married woman. And mama never said anything about hitting on married women." Ada-María shook her head.

"Yes she has. And remember what papa said. If you defile an innocent woman, you make baby Jesus cry. You don't want to do that, now do you?" Marcelo kept glaring.

"I murder for the sake of quenching my thirst and you think my flirtatiousness is what makes baby Jesus cry?" Ada-María smirked.

"You make our lord sob, that's what you do." After that, Marcelo let go of my hand and turned his attention entirely to Ada-María and they argued for several minutes.

I spent most of the party trying to get back at Jacob for the cake in my mouth thing with no luck. He knew I was out to get him, so he was avoiding me as much as possible. I think a few others that knew what we were doing were getting a great deal of entertainment from it. After about an hour, I still didn't get anywhere and I was getting extremely annoyed. I went to the kitchen to get myself a thermos of donated blood and took a sip when I realized what I could do. It was horrible, but I knew I'd get a good laugh from it. I heard daddy laugh a little when the idea popped into my head. I walked over to Jacob, who was talking to Embry now and I rested my weight against him.

"You having fun, Nessie?" I nodded.

"It's nice. It seems like just yesterday that Ryan and Valerie were born." Jacob nodded.

"It seems just like yesterday that they actually looked like babies." I smiled and nodded in return.

"True."

Tired of small talk, I took a small sip of blood without Jacob looking. Then I took a light hold of Jacob's neck and pulled him towards me in a kiss. It was sweet at first and Jacob ignored the taste of blood on my lips. But then I forced my tongue past Jacob's lips and jumped up slightly to get the whole sip I'd taken into his mouth and I let go of him when I was in. Jacob jerked away from me coughing and bowing his head down with blood spilling from his mouth. Any other time, that site would terrify me, but in this case, it was delightfully evil.

"What the hell, Nessie!" I giggled and Embry was fighting a laugh.

"Now will you promise to never kiss me when there's food in your mouth?" Then Jacob looked at me and I saw something click in his eyes. Then he smiled and lifted his head back up and licked all the blood on his hands. My eyes went wide again.

"It wasn't that bad." Then Embry really laughed and even bent down from it. I heard some others start laughing, but I wasn't paying attention to them. Jacob was smiling at me with a grin that a child would give their sibling when they just got away with something. He chuckled at the expression on my face, then took me in his arms and pulled me up to his level. "I'll admit Nessie, that was pretty underhanded."

"That hardly compares to kissing me when you recently drank something. Namingly whenever you kiss me after you've had a sip of Budweiser." Jacob gave me a guilty smile now.

"That doesn't happen often. I only drink beer when I'm watching a game."

"Still." I was thankful that no one was paying attention to us. They were all engrossed in their own thing. Jacob smiled.

"Alright, how about this. I promise I'll never kiss you with food in my mouth if you promise to never, and I mean never, spit blood in my mouth again." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"I promise if you do." Jacob laughed a little and held up his left hand with his pinky extended. I brought my left hand over and intertwined our pinkies to swear. Then Jacob kissed me sweetly.

Later that day, I took Jacob to where daddy hid some of my bachelorette joke gifts and let him see what they got me. When he saw the board games, he was laughing for at least five minutes before calming down a little.

"Guess what the guys got for me as my bachelor present."

"Do I even want to know?" Jacob chuckled and reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of Trojan condoms and a keychain.

"Look at what's written on the key chain." I looked at him a moment before taking it in my hand and looking at it.

It was a silver key chain that looked like a beer bottle opener. It was the same size as any standard beer bottle opener, but above the whole thing was a saying. _I'm the key to her happy place._ I looked at it for a few minute and looked at Jacob. Then I realized the joke and started laughing. He laughed with me and took it back.

"Yeah. It's not as bad as 1,000 Sex Games, but you get what I mean."

"Well, Jacob, seeing as I don't drink, I'm not sure how well that key would work." Jacob laughed and nodded.

"I told them that. But Paul was kind enough to point out that this could easily break the button on a woman's pants." I laughed again.

"You could just do it manually. It's much faster." Jacob nodded.

"I kind of figured that's what we'd do. This is just in case of emergencies." Jacob and I started laughing and we laughed all afternoon about my prank gifts. He didn't see any of the lingerie. That was stuff I didn't want him to see. Not yet, at least.

Later on, I noticed Dante and Amadora sitting outside together in the sun. I realized he was holding a book. From this distance, it looked like a picture book, but with far too much writing to be for a child. I walked over wanting to get a better look at it, but once I was close enough, I sighed. It was in Russian. That wasn't a language I knew. The closest I came to knowing Russian was the Polish I spoke. And in truth, I think daddy only learned Polish because he knew that's what his mother had been. When I was looking, Dante noticed and looked over his shoulder at me and smiled.

"Sorry. I was just curious what you were reading." Dante shook his head.

"It's okay." Then he handed me the book after closing it.

"I can't read the title, Dante." He laughed a little.

"It says, 'Utopichyaskaya Peschera'." I shrugged.

"I don't speak Russian, Dante. Just Polish." Dante laughed a little and rolled his eyes.

"No one speaks Russian these days. It means Utopian Cave. It's a story my dad wrote for me when I was younger. It's based off a story my mom used to tell me when she was pregnant with me."

"That's so sweet. What's the story about?"

"It's about a little Italian boy named Dante that loves to go on adventures and has evil parents. He goes out to get olives, he follows a trail of garlic into a cave and gets stuck in the cave when a large boulder covered the entrance. A fairy tells him he needs to pass three tests to prove he's wise, giving, and selfless, then he needs to prove he's strong by fighting an evil monster. There's a strategy to fighting the monster and he gets items after each test to fight the monster. When he wins, he becomes the new king of Utopia."

"That's an awesome children's book. These pictures are stunning." Dante nodded.

"Dad did it all by hand."

"And in pen I see." Dante nodded proudly.

"I always have that with me. That and my violin. It makes me think of my mother. It's the only way I know her." I smiled a little wider.

"That's so sweet. I wish I could read it." Amadora smiled too.

"It's a shame you can't. It's a fun story. Dante reads it to me in English all the time." Dante grinned and tightened his arm around her shoulder affectionately.

"How long have you two been together now?" Amadora answered.

"Five months."

"I didn't know your families traveled together." Dante shrugged.

"We visited each other a lot. Me, dad, and Heidi were the only ones living outside of Italy, though. We spent most of our time living in Germany."

"How'd you two get together, then?" Dante smiled and Amadora took over the story.

"We were all visiting each other over Christmas when Dante kissed me under mistletoe that was in the streets and he held my hand for a few blocks after that. Then, that Valentine's Day, Dante ran to Italy to find us and gave me a box of hearts with sayings on them. There were only three hearts in the little box and they said, "Happy Valentine's Day', 'I love you' and, 'Be mine'."

"Oh my god, that's so sweet." Dante nodded.

"I like to think so." Amadora rolled her eyes and kissed Dante before looking at me.

"Needless to say, I said yes and we've been dating ever since. Our families joined together and now we're just a big coven living in Italy." I smiled.

"Just out of curiosity, why does Afton hate Dante so much." Dante shrugged.

"I don't know why he hates me so much." Then Amadora rolled her eyes.

"Please, you know exactly why he hates you so much. Remember our first date when daddy called?"

**Earlier that year**

It was Dante and Amadora's first date since Dante asked Amadora to be his girlfriend. Their families had recently joined because of Dante and Amadora's new romance. Afton wasn't too thrilled about it, but he figured as long as Dante made her happy, then that should be good enough for him. Or more appropriately, that's what Chelsea told him and he didn't feel like arguing with her.

Dante and Amadora were walking on the water hand in hand near Rialto Bridge in Venice. Amadora used her power to make them able to walk on the water. When they were under the bridge and had been talking for several blocks of water, Dante pulled Amadora to him and kissed her passionately. They ignored the bell when they heard it ring and let the world slip away. They were forced back to reality when Amadora accidently lost control of her power and they fell. She stopped before they'd reached a foot under water and they started laughing.

"I'm sorry. I ruined the moment, didn't I?" Dante laughed and nodded.

"A little bit, yes." They laughed a little more before they started kissing again. As the kiss deepened, Dante started moving his hands under Amadora's shirt to bring her closer while Amadora pulled on Dante's shirt.

Several minutes went by with them simply kissing each other. All the while, Dante's hands kept roaming through Amadora's shirt and over her breasts and Amadora ran her hands all over his back at chest. As they kissed, they moved to a ledge under the bridge and kept kissing. Amadora finally relaxed all the way without needing to concentrate on using her power and really put herself into the kiss more than she had before.

As they were kissing, Dante felt something start vibrating in Amadora's front pocket. Amadora felt it and brought her left hand to her pocket to get her phone. But Dante reached for it first and took it out to answer it. He didn't even look at who was calling. He just opened the phone and licked Amadora's bottom lip before answering whoever was on the phone.

"I'm sorry. Amadora can't come to the phone right now. She's about to be deflowered."

"_You're not deflowering anyone once I get my hands on you, you fucking pig! Now put Amadora on right now before I hunt you down and kill you!!"_ Dante stiffened when he heard the voice and Amadora looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Afton. Hey."

"_Damn it, Dante, put Amadora on the god damn phone!!"_ Dante nodded his head frantically before handing Amadora the phone so she could talk to Afton.

**Present**

"Oh. I guess that could be why." Amadora rolled her eyes at Dante.

"You guess that could be why? Thanks to your little comment, we haven't been on a real date with just us since we got together." Dante held his hands up defensively.

"I've offered to keep us under a shield and run off for a few hours, but you always say no."

"Yeah, because that would make daddy angrier."

I laughed to myself as I watched them argue. It wasn't even a real argument. It was like something Jacob and I would do where we both think we're right and trying to convince the other of it or we both know we're wrong, but don't want to admit it. They were even still holding hands through the whole thing, which made me smile. I walked away and let them be alone. Jacob was sitting on the couch with Emmett and Jasper watching a football game, so I took a seat next to him and rested my head on his shoulders and watched with them.

A few hours later, daddy and momma were in the music room playing piano together when daddy suddenly stopped playing. Carlisle noticed and asked daddy if there was something wrong. Daddy sighed and rubbed his face while momma tried rubbing her hands on daddy's shoulders to make him feel better.

"We have more visitors." Carlisle stood from his chair about to ask if there was any danger. "There's no danger, Carlisle. Just a string of headaches."

"What are you talking about?" After Carlisle said that, we heard the doorbell ring and Carlisle was still a moment before he went to the door to open it. When he opened the door, there was a woman standing there that I'd never seen before. She was tall and curvy with the blackest hair I'd ever seen. It was a shade that made even Jacob's hair look brown. She had bright red eyes and a sweet smile that lit up her face. "I'm sorry, but have we met?" The woman in question shook her head. When she spoke, she had a heavy accent that I recognized to be Greek.

"I'm afraid not. I'd passed away long before you came to be with the Volturi. But you've met my mate and sister." I looked behind the woman and saw Marcus and Euphemia standing behind her. But they were at least five feet away from each other and refusing to look in the other's direction. Carlisle's eyes widened.

"Didyme?" The woman in question nodded her head and bowed respectfully.

"Yes, I'm Didyme, Marcus' mate. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Carlisle. Marcus told me all about your family and what you've done. I believe my coven and I owe you a great deal of gratitude." Carlisle was stunned a moment before he shook his head.

"No, you don't owe us anything. We've done nothing." Didyme shook her head.

"On the contrary. Thanks to your coven, Aro and Caius were killed and you freed our world. Not to mention stopping the epidemic of those werewolves. That little boy brought me back. If it weren't for your coven, none of that would've happened. And I can think of no better way to thank you than by paying respects to your granddaughter. Congratulations to her for her upcoming marriage." Marcus nodded and spoke next.

"Titus Valerius heard about the wedding and told us about it. They're coming too, but they won't be here for a few more days." Carlisle smiled a little.

"Well, that's so kind of you. Please, come in. You're welcome to stay." Didyme smiled wider and took Marcus' hand and pulled him in.

"Thank you, Carlisle." Euphemia followed after them and Carlisle closed the door when they came in. Euphemia was holding a box that was wrapped in white paper. She looked at Carlisle with her usual bitchy face.

"So where should I put this? It's a gift for the happy couple." Because of her tone, I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or just being her. Carlisle ignored her tone and looked at Alice.

"You can give it to Alice." Alice smiled and ran over to Euphemia and took the box, then ran up the stairs to put it in hers and Jasper's room.

The former guards went to Didyme eagerly and asked her how she was and that they were happy to see her again. I never knew that Didyme was so well thought of by the other guards. I even noticed that Marcus talked more now that Didyme was back. It wasn't much, but it was a lot more than he had.

"I hope you don't mind my asking." I said to Didyme when I had the chance to talk to her. She shook her head.

"Ask me anything you want, dear."

"What happened to Antanas and his family? You know, the little boy that brought you back. Marcus and Euphemia didn't kill them did they?" She smiled and shook her head.

"Certainly not. After what Antanas did, Marcus wouldn't allow it. Euphemia wanted to be rid of them, but of course, Euphemia's often irritable and doesn't take to people well. Honestly, I think I'm the only other person that she's actually nice to." I smiled awkwardly.

"So Antanas and his family are fine?" She nodded.

"Yes. They ran off and are living in Lithuania. At least that's what Titus told us. He and Nicoleta are always traveling. She wants to see the world and all." Didyme giggled. "Oh to be a newborn. Everything's so new and you want to see everything. Titus says they'll settle down in one place when Nicoleta's seen everything she wants to see. I think your wedding is a good excuse for her to see the Americas she'd heard so much about in her childhood. Titus, of course, hates America, but then again, he came when things in America weren't so nice."

"But she already saw the U.S. didn't she?" Didyme shook her head.

"No. Titus took Nicoleta back to Europe after the encounter with your family. Nicoleta wanted to stay and site see, I'm sure, but Titus just wanted to be back in Europe." I smiled.

"Are you and Marcus planning to see the world at all? It's been a while since you past away." Didyme shook her head.

"No. I've seen all that I wanted to see. I've been to every country and I've seen all they have to offer. All that would be different is all the lights that were put in while I was gone. I've had my fill of all that. I think it ruined the cities if you ask me. Rome used to be so wonderful and filled with history. Now it's over publicized and there's nothing but tourists and cars. I miss old Rome."

"Rome's still a beautiful city."

"Of course. But now there's the lights and the Vatican and all those silly things. I was a newborn before Rome was even established as a superpower. And I remember it being just a city that rivaled Athens in its splendor. And don't get me started on Athens. It's nothing like I remember. All the theatres that I remember are demolished and in ruins."

"You grew up in Athens?" Didyme shook her head.

"I'm Spartan actually. That's the good thing about my gift. I never forget my past because I always see it. All I need to do is walk through Sparta and I know everything I've ever done there when I was human. My father was a soldier of course." My eyes widened.

"I never took you for a Spartan. You seem too…….what's the word?" Didyme giggled.

"Civil?" I smiled a guilty smile. "Don't feel bad. A lot of people think that about Sparta. It's not too far from the truth either. Men were bred to fight in Sparta back then. Women were strong too, but we stayed home and bared children."

"Is Marcus Greek?" Didyme shook her head.

"Italian. He was alive before the Roman Empire, so he's not sure what part of Italy he's from. But we do know he's Italian."

"Just out of curiosity, were Aro and Caius Italian too?" Didyme nodded.

"As Italian as they come. Aro was from Sicily and Caius was from the northern reaches of Italy. But his hair was so pale because he was really old when he was changed. He's the only known person to survive a vampire attack when he was sixty."

"He was sixty?"

"Yep. Hard to believe isn't it? But yes, I was the only Greek amongst the Volturi. I always tried going to Greece every chance I got. I got homesick easily."

"Do you guys live in Greece now?" She nodded.

"Indeed we do. But we're living in Crete. I wanted to live in Sparta, but it'd changed so much over the years that it made me sad to be there. I'd never really been to Crete before, so we stay there. But I will admit that I like to walk through Sparta with my eyes closed and watch all those images of my youth pass through my head."

"That sounds exciting."

"It is. It really is. I only wish I could show it to Marcus. He would enjoy it I think."

"I thought you guys met in Greece."

"We did, but it wasn't in Sparta. It was Mount Olympus where we met." She giggled again. "It was so romantic when you left aside the fact that we were attacking the same people." I smiled.

"Forgive me, but Marcus seems so to himself. I never really was able to picture him with a mate." Didyme shrugged.

"I'm sure a lot of people who know him think that. He hardly said a word to me when we first met. We'd simply gone for our prey, he was about to attack me, but he stopped and let me have the first take. I was so flattered that I simply started talking to him. It was a good four hours of me just talking to him before I even asked what his name was. But he never stopped me and he was listening attentively the whole time I spoke. I found that part of him very charming. We ended up talking and walking together for four solid days. Euphemia went nuts trying to look for me. That's when she and Marcus met and so on."

"When did you and Marcus join the Volturi?" Didyme sighed.

"Well, it's a long story really. We were in Italy and came across Aro and Caius. I became good friends with Aro's mate, Sulpicia in an instant. She told Aro about my gift and Marcus' and Aro came to talk to us with Sulpicia. Caius and Athenadora were never pleasant, but I preferred to ignore them. We didn't join their coven at first, but then something silly happened between Marcus and Euphemia and they refused to be near each other. They tolerate each other only for my benefit, but I doubt it'll be long before one of them snaps and can't take it anymore. We joined the Volturi when Euphemia went off on her own."

"Why do Marcus and Euphemia hate each other so much? Being this bitter over a human seems a little silly for them."

"It's more than that. They didn't meet under the best of circumstances, true, but it was more rooted in the fact that Euphemia thinks Marcus isn't good enough for me. I've told her repeatedly that I love Marcus, but she always tells me I could do better if I so desperately want a mate. That caused a lot of tension between the two of them and it just got worse over the years because Euphemia would go out of her way to make Marcus' life miserable. I would've brought some plates for your wedding, but I feared by the time we got here, Marcus and Euphemia would've attacked each other with them and none of the plates would've made it." I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's pretty extreme. But is it just Euphemia's fault or is Marcus at fault too."

"They're both at fault, frankly. Euphemia always starts it, but Marcus certainly doesn't help. He's attempted stabbing her to death, for heaven's sake. It didn't work, obviously, but the point is that it was uncalled for."

"Maybe you guys should travel with Afton and Chelsea. Chelsea might be able to..." Didyme stopped me before I could finish.

"We've tried that. Euphemia already knew about Chelsea's gift."

"What happened?" Chelsea was the one to talk and it was with a great deal of resentment.

"It ended with me getting bitch slapped through a wall." Jacob didn't fight a laugh like I did. He just started laughing and Chelsea gave him a dirty look, but otherwise didn't say anything. I fought a laugh as best I could to ask my next question.

"Euphemia punched you through a wall?" Chelsea nodded.

"Yep. She bitch slapped me through a wall into someone's house while they were having dinner." Jacob laughed even harder and I was fighting the laugh even more.

"What did you do?" Chelsea shrugged.

"I apologized for ruining their dinner and left." Through his laughter, Jacob asked a question.

"Didn't they think it was odd that a woman had just been hit through a wall and survived?"

"Of course they did. That's why I was able to leave so easily. They were so stunned by it that they didn't say anything about the fact that there was a giant hole in their wall." Then Chelsea glared lovingly at Afton. "And, of course, you were laughing." Afton shrugged.

"I laughed after I knew you were alright. You can't tell me that you didn't think that was funny later."

"That's not the point. The point is I could've been badly hurt and you thought it was funny."

"I only laughed after I knew you were alright. It's a classic comedy moment, Chelsea. I can't help that something was funny."

We all shared a laugh about it when Afton said that. Amadora laughed, but she hugged Chelsea and told her she hoped she wasn't hurt too badly. It was really a site to see between Chelsea and Amadora. What had once been a bitter hatred and jealousy of Amadora turned into a motherly affection that would make a person think she was her real mother. If Amadora had brown hair, one would think Chelsea really was her mother. And there was no hiding that Afton was thrilled about that.

"So you said Titus and Nicoleta would be coming?" Carlisle asked Marcus. Marcus nodded.

"That's what he told me. He said he wanted to get an appropriate gift before he arrived."

"Why would that take him so long?" Marcus shrugged at Carlisle's question.

"Titus is one of those people that prefer to make something by hand. He thinks that giving someone a store bought gift for a special occasion like this would be rude."

"Well that's nice of him." Marcus smiled a little.

"He's just being a show off." Carlisle laughed and they kept talking amongst themselves. When it was late and I was getting tired, Jacob walked with me back to the cottage. We walked together hand in hand.

"Can I confess something?" I looked up at Jacob and smiled.

"Sure."

"I actually really like Didyme." I giggled and nodded my head in response.

"Me too. She's so nice. I have a hard time believing her and Euphemia are related. She's too nice." Jacob laughed.

"I know, right? It's like day and night. I wonder what they got us." I shrugged.

"You never know. I'm more curious what Titus and Nicoleta are getting us. I heard Marcus say that it would be hand-made."

"What could he make for us? It's not like there's anything that people haven't already gotten for us. Sam and Emily got us a comforter set and your parents got us a whole new kitchen set."

"Jacob, you shouldn't know that."

"Oh come one, Nessie. Alice is the one that made the list of gifts we registered for and I've seen it a million times. And Bella told me that's what they were getting us."

"Still." Jacob laughed a little and took me closer in a hug and kissed the top of my head.

"Don't worry about it, Nessie." He kissed my forehead again. "Can you believe we're getting married in two weeks?" My grin widened from ear to ear and I knew I was blushing.

"It's not soon enough." Jacob laughed and stopped in his tracks to turn to me and lifted me into his arms and spun me around and kissed me passionately.

His tongue went through my lips immediately and ran it over my teeth and tongue and roof of my mouth. My hands came to his head and I threaded my fingers through his hair as my body seemed to turn to mush. His hands ran all over my back and my butt while he kept walking forward slowly through the woods. I sucked on his tongue a moment before I started sucking on his bottom lip, him doing the same to my top lip. We stopped suddenly when my back hit the bark of a tree and we started laughing together.

"You're right, Nessie. It's not nearly soon enough." We smiled and laughed together a moment before Jacob started walking again, not starting another kiss this time.

Jacob didn't put me back on my feet until we reached the cottage and I opened the door to let us in. When I was on my feet, Jacob went to my room while I ran over to the bathroom and did my nightly routine. As soon as I was done, I went to my room and into my bed where I snuggled close to Jacob and breathed in the scent of his skin before kissing his neck. He kissed the top of my head and pulled me closer to him. We said goodnight to each other and went to sleep in each other's arms. I woke up in the same place I'd fallen asleep and smiled when I opened my eyes to Jacob's sleeping face. It made me giddy to think that, starting July 12th, I would be doing that for the rest of my life. Or at least after college I would.

I watched Jacob sleep for several minutes, not wanting to disturb him. There was nothing planned for today, so there was no need to hurry. He finally woke up about an hour after me and I kissed him when he started to stir. He kissed me back when he was awake enough and ran his fingers through my hair. Then he moved so that he was on top of me and most of his weight was resting on me. Then he took his lips away and rested his head on my shoulder. I brought my fingers to his hair and massaged his scalp, which made him groan a little.

"How'd you sleep?" Jacob smiled and kissed my chest.

"Great. I always sleep best when I'm holding you." I giggled and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. It was such a corny thing to say, but when he said it to me, I didn't care how corny it sounded.

"Likewise. So what do you want to do today?" Jacob was silent a moment in thoughtfulness. I waited for him to respond with whatever idea he had. Then I felt him grin.

"Do you want to see the house?" I looked at Jacob with a weird expression.

"What house?" Jacob smiled wider.

"The house that Esme designed for us and built. They finished it a few days ago and I've already started moving all our stuff there. I was planning to wait to show it to you until our wedding night, but Alice reminded me that we would be in Seattle our wedding night so we could catch the plan to San Diego the next morning." I smiled even more.

"She's sending us to San Diego?" Jacob nodded. "And the house in question was already finished?" He nodded again.

"Well then, I would very much like to see it." Jacob chuckled a little and snuggled into my chest before looking back up at me.

"Then get ready and we'll go." Jacob pulled himself off me and let me get out of bed to go to the bathroom to do my morning routine. I did everything as fast as I could, eager to go see the house.

When I was clean, I went back to my room and into my closet to pick out something to wear. It was raining heavily at the moment, so I went with a blue long sleeve shirt and dark wash pants that I tucked into my boots. And I wore the slipknot jacket and kept the hood over my head as we walked back to the house where Jacob's car was parked. Then we took ten minutes to get from the house back to the reservation where the house was built. I was glad they built the house there. It seemed like the best place to have it seeing as that's where Jacob grew up. When we finally got there, I was stunned into silence.

The house wasn't so large that it looked obnoxious, but it was also tucked behind some trees similar to the Cullen house. From the front, I could see a lovely porch and the house was painted a woodsy tan color. And there were two windows at the second floor of the house and a large window to the far right. I could see a fridge through that window.

"It's beautiful." Jacob chuckled and ran his fingers once through my hair to get me to look at him.

"Don't comment on it yet. We haven't even seen the inside." Then Jacob got out of the car and came to my side to open the door for me and pull me out. When I was on my feet, he closed the door of the rabbit and we walked over to the house hand in hand.

As we were walking over, I heard Jacob rummage through his pocket until he found what he was looking for. I glanced over to see a set of keys. Jacob individualized the key that unlocked the house and walked a little faster to the door, still holding my hand. When we walked up the porch steps and finally reached the door, Jacob put in the key to unlock the house and took the key out of the lock before opening the door.

The first thing I saw when I entered the house was a staircase. It was at least a yard and a half away from the door and there was a chandelier hanging above us. It wasn't one of those elaborate, ballroom chandeliers, but it was still pretty. It was a black chandelier with a total of six arms going all around. Each one had crystal in the middle mimicking a candle and there was a large crystal light in the middle of the chandelier that helped fill the room with light.

Jacob took off his coat and I followed suit, being taken out of my trance. Then he took mine and opened a door to a hall closet and hung our coats up before taking my hand again and leading me with him to the left of the stairs. We walked into a living room area. From the entrance to here, there was dark hardwood floors with a nice tan color on the walls. The fireplace was made from bricks and the lamp hung in the center of the ceiling lighting up the whole room. To my left in the corner, I saw a piano, which made me happy. I let go of Jacob's hand and ran over to the instrument.

"You guys got a new Piano?"

"Yeah. That was Demetri and Heidi's present to us." I looked over my shoulder at Jacob.

"Demetri and Heidi got this for us?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, I was surprised too. The chandelier was from Felix, believe it or not." I smiled and turned my attention back to the piano. I lifted the covering to reveal the ivory keys and started playing a random song to check if it was in tone, which it was.

"That's so nice of them. They didn't need to go through all this trouble." Jacob came closer and kissed the back of my head as I played and took a seat next to me.

"We can thank them for it when we get back. And we'll need to thank Afton and Chelsea for the sink in the master bathroom. It's really nice." I giggled.

"I wonder what it looks like."

"Thankfully, it's not one of those sinks where it's a bowl attached to the counter. Those always feel like too much to me. It was actually made of tan marble. And they gave Esme the marble to match the sink with the countertop. It's really nice."

"It sounds nice. Is there marble in the kitchen?" Jacob nodded.

"Of course. Its black marble and the floors are grey stone and the walls are burgundy I think."

"I'm loving the pallet of the house so far. What color are the bathrooms?"

"The downstairs one is a light baby blue color with white tile floors and white countertops. There's two bathrooms upstairs. One master bath and a guest bath which the kids can share later." I smiled to myself at the last part.

"Are they blue too?"

"No. The guest bath is all white. Esme told me she left it that way so we could play around with it later. Our bathroom is brown walls, kind of like a sienna color only a little darker. And it's tan countertops and a separate shower and bath. The best part is the bath and shower are large enough for me to sit comfortably."

"That's convenient."

"And there's two guest bedrooms. They're both the same size and both are white so we can play around with it later. And if we want, we can take down the wall between the two rooms later."

"We'll do that if we end up with one gender of kids instead of variety."

"Good idea." I stopped playing the piano and scooted on the bench so I was facing Jacob and smiling at him.

"Let's not worry about it now. It's too soon. We'll worry when it's time to plan for kids." Jacob smiled and kissed me before nodding his head.

"Sure." Then Jacob stood from the bench and pulled me with him. "Let's go see the dining room and kitchen now. I know you'll love the dining room."

Jacob pulled me with him through the living room into the dining room which we entered through an arch entryway. The hardwood floors continued into the dining room and the walls were a dark red, not quite burgundy, color. And the table could easily seat ten people. And it was a dark wood that matched the floors with chairs that were beautifully done.

"Alec and Jane sent the chairs." I stared up at Jacob wide eyed when he said that.

"You're kidding. They did?" Jacob nodded.

"I was shocked too. They sent a letter with it saying they were sorry they couldn't make it to the wedding, but they wished us all the luck and happiness in the world. I think they're just happy about not being guards anymore and they just wanted to return the favor."

"By giving us a table and chairs?" Jacob nodded.

"Alec made all this himself, or so the letter said."

"Well, it's beautiful. We need to send them a thank you card or something like that."

"Definitely. But later. Let's get done looking at the house."

That said, Jacob took my hand again and pulled me with him to the right, where we entered the kitchen. At the end of the room, I saw the stainless steel refrigerator that I'd seen through the window. The countertops were a dark marble and the floors stone with mahogany walls and stainless steel appliances. And the cabinets all had glass doors so I could see through it at what was there. They were all empty, but that was because all of Jacob's current silver wear and plates were in boxes that had just been opened. And above the sink, there was a window that looked into the backyard and there were glass French doors between the fridge and the counters. There was one counter next to the fridge before the French doors made an appearance. They were a black iron with a few designs along the glass, but nothing that would make it hard to see outside.

"What do you think?" I smiled at Jacob and he smiled back, already knowing the answer to his question.

"It's beautiful."

"And there's a porch in the back yard like in the front. Alice even made us a balcony in our master bedroom with these same French doors."

"Did she really?"

"Yep. Do you want to see it?"

"Duh." Jacob and I laughed while he led me with him back around to the stairs and to the master bedroom. He pointed out the guest bed and bath really quickly before we reached the door at the end of the hall. But we stopped right in front.

"I want you to close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because, I want to show you the closet first." My face lit up and I knew it. The look on my face made Jacob smile.

"Well, in that case." Jacob laughed a little and I closed my eyes before I heard Jacob open the bedroom door. When it was open, he went behind me and held my shoulders while gently pushing me in the direction he wanted me to go. When Jacob had me where he wanted, he brought his lips to my ear and his breath made me shutter.

"Alright, Nessie. You can look now." I opened my eyes and saw a dark wood door. "Open it." I was still a moment before I reached over and opened the door. I was left speechless when I saw the inside. It was about the size of my future dorm room, being 11' 8" by 15'3". The floor was the same white rug from the room and the drawers and units to hand shirts from where all black. I saw the back wall with its row after row of shelves and realized it was for shoes. There was even a small square chair in the middle of the room to sit on when putting on shoes. "Do you like it?"

"What do you think?" Jacob laughed and followed me as I walked in. "This room is huge. We could fit a car in here."

"Probably. But I wouldn't recommend it. I figured we'd just stick with our clothes. The garage is at the left of the house."

"Yeah, I saw. My god, this is perfect."

"I knew you'd love it. There's plenty of room in here, even for all those shoes of yours. And I still have room for my clothes."

"Wow. Remind me to hug Alice when we get back." Jacob chuckled.

"So do you want to see the bedroom?" I grinned wider.

"I most certainly do." Jacob grinned and took my hand and walked out of the closet. The room was primarily white, which I assumed it would be. And Jacob's bed was already at the house and in the center at the back of the room. And to my left, I saw French doors that led out to a balcony looking over the woods in our backyard. I could see that it had a little covering over it to protect it from the rain, but it was large enough that it fit two chairs and a small table.

"Do you like it?"

"Why do you bother asking? You know I do." Then I'll show you the bathroom now. I told you it was nice."

"Sounds like fun." Jacob led me with him to the bathroom and opened the door after pulling me in front of him.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was the tub. The tub was off white, kind of like a blonde color that matched the bathroom perfectly. The floors were assorted colors of tan, brown, and sienna and the countertops were tan as well. The lights were on the walls and there was a black chandelier in the middle of the ceiling that held the whole room together. The tub was in its own little corner that was rounded off to fit the huge tub. I also realized the tub had jets. That made me smile. Next to the tub, in its own corner was the shower which, once again, was huge. The shower nozzle hung right above and was high enough that it wouldn't hit Jacob on the head and there was a detachable shower nozzle on the wall. The first few feet of wall separating the shower and outside was stone that matched the floors. The rest of it was glass that was easy to see through.

"It's beautiful."

"You really think so?" I nodded my head.

"It's perfect. I'm glad Esme did this for us. I don't think we could've bough a better house."

"I don't think so either. And I'm already moved in for the most part. All that's left is to get everything unpacked. You're clothes are already here too."

"Then let's unpack right now." Jacob chuckled and nuzzled my neck.

"Sure."

For the rest of the day, Jacob and I got all the things unpacked. Half of my clothes were already at Jacob's place, so I had clothes here already. All my clothes fit in perfectly and the plates were easy to see through the glass doors of the cabinets in the kitchen. While Jacob and I were unpacking, I started picturing our life together in this house. Since we weren't having kids right away, I could have him all to myself for a while. I was looking forward to it. Sitting together on the couch watching the fire, Jacob sitting next to me at the piano while I played, and other thoughts. I couldn't wait.

By the time we finished unpacking, it was later that night and Jacob wanted to get something to eat. He didn't feel like staying in, so we drove all the way to Port Angeles and looked for a place to eat. We ended up choosing an Italian place and got a seat there. A waitress came out and took our orders and finally left a little reluctantly, I noticed. Since Jacob would be drinking my soda, I ordered a root beer.

"So when are we officially moving in?" Jacob smiled and took a sip of his root beer before answering.

"We can move in now if you wanted. I'm technically already moved in. Most of your stuff that isn't already at the house is going with you to Illinois and all that. And we'll only be in San Diego for two weeks, so we've got time to live at home before you leave."

"You are coming with us when we go to Northwestern right? I mean, we get a chance to see our dorm and meet our roommates so we can have a chance to make last minute changes." Jacob nodded.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss that. I need to know my way around campus if I'm going to visit every weekend." My smile widened.

"Every weekend?"

"Yeah, every weekend. I have it all planned out. Every Friday after I finish work, I'll faze and run to Illinois and be there in less than seven hours, then we'll have the weekend and I'll run back Sunday night. The school allows overnight visitors on the weekends anyway, right?" I nodded.

"That's what the website said. I'm not sure how comfortable you'll be in that dorm, though. The beds aren't really for a man whose 6'6". And we have to remember my roommate Samantha."

"I'm sure she won't mind if I stay. Besides, we have all day to do something." Jacob winked, then took another gulp of his root beer and I blushed while he wasn't looking.

The same waitress from earlier came over and took our orders. I only ordered soup since Jacob was getting pasta. Soup was relatively easy to get rid of and Jacob would want a little anyway. Eventually, during dinner, Jacob got really annoyed with all the waiters that were staring at me and changed seats so he was sitting right next to me in the booth. With anyone else, this would annoy me immensely, but with Jacob, I didn't mind so much. In a way, it was kind of sweet. The only reason it bothered me when it was concerning Marcelo was because when Marcelo got involved, it was always volatile and inappropriate. In this case, it wasn't so bad.

Now that we were sitting closer together, Jacob started holding my hand at random points during dinner and would squeeze my hand. Or he would run his fingers through my hair. I just kept my hand on his knee and my head on his shoulder for the most part. When he finished eating, I left a tip and Jacob paid for dinner and we left to go back to the house. Everyone was in when we got there. Marcelo, Lia, Octavia, Armando, and Ada-María were sitting together playing clue. Marcelo smiled at me and I smiled back before he turned his attention back to the game. Then Jacob kissed my hand and I looked at him.

"I better go. I have patrol tonight."

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning." Jacob nodded and kissed me before he waved goodbye to everyone before going out the door.

When he was gone, I walked over to the group playing clue and watched them play. Lia was ahead so far, but it looked like Octavia was catching up. Amadora and Dante were sitting together on the couch watching Iron Chef. Everyone else was scattered through the house going about their own activities. Marcus and Didyme were in the kitchen and he was trying desperately to ignore Euphemia even thought she was quietly nagging him. I understood what daddy meant when he said we were in for a lot of headaches. Marcus hardly ever spoke to Euphemia intentionally. But since she was doing most of the talking, it didn't really matter. Marcus didn't need to talk to argue with her.

I was about to leave to go to the cottage for bed when I heard the doorbell ring. Carlisle looked at daddy and daddy nodded, letting Carlisle know that it was nothing to be concerned about. Carlisle ran to the door to let in whoever was there and we saw Titus and Nicoleta on the other side holding a large box. Carlisle smiled at them and welcomed them in while Alice took the present and ran it up to her room with all the other gifts. Nicoleta came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek congratulating me on my upcoming wedding. I ended up staying an hour longer at the house before I finally left for the cottage to go to sleep.

The last few days before the wedding felt like years to me. Jacob finally ended up choosing Quil to be his best man. He was one of his best friends and had been such for a long time. So Jacob thought it would be appropriate that his best man be someone that's been there all his life. I couldn't agree with that more. And Claire was thrilled to death that Quil was the best man. It was plain to see that Claire had a crush on Quil. It was hardly unexpected, but it was still really cute. And for the time being, Quil still thought of Claire as that sweet little sister he never had.

The day before the ceremony, Jacob wasn't aloud near that house. In truth, I really didn't believe in superstition, but Alice insisted. Momma wasn't as religious about the traditions as Alice was, but she didn't argue with her when she decided Jacob and I needed to be separated the day before the wedding. It wasn't as much for the superstition as much as she thought it would make the day more memorable if I walked down the aisle after being apart from him for a few hours. Though I was reluctant, I understood momma's logic and went with her suggestion. I took that time to help everyone put up the decorations for the ceremony tomorrow and get the living room and TV room ready with seats and an alter. Between everyone at the house, it took us about ten minutes tops to get everything done.

I went to bed early that night, hoping to make the big day come even sooner and I woke up way too early that morning. The ceremony itself wasn't until seven, and it was only eight in the morning when I woke up. I ran to the house and saw everybody already dressed except for those of us that actually needed sleep. I saw momma in a lovely lilac dress that didn't make her look matronly, but you still knew she was the mother of the bride. It was a mermaid silhouette with just lilac fabric. Alice was in her little red dress and Rosalie was wearing a light blue dress that had a plummeting backline. And the dress reached the floor. Chelsea wore a dark purple cocktail dress with diamond jewelry and Heidi wore a yellow dress with a tight bodice and a sweet little skirt that only reached her mid-thigh. Her heels helped put her almost face to face with Demetri.

Didyme and Euphemia both wore tunic dresses that they'd brought with them that, evidently, were what people traditionally wore at weddings when they were human. My eyes widened at Nicoleta's dress. It was reminiscent of the dresses she wore in her youth, but with a modern twist. It was also a purple dress that had the princess silhouette that hugged her figure beautifully and the corset that would normally be in front was in the back and the sleeves were little bits of fabric that went off the shoulder. They all had their hair done up in either curls or in an updo. The men all wore either tuxedos or suits. Alice grinned when she saw me and ran over to me.

"There's the happy bride." Then she hugged me tightly and I hugged her back.

"You guys are dressed early."

"Of course. We need to spend most of our time getting you and the bridesmaids ready. Claire will be here by noon and we'll get started on her then. Amadora should be up soon. Ada-María is already dressed."

"When should I start getting ready?"

"Right now, of course. You're the bride." I laughed to myself and Alice pulled me with her up the stairs to her room. I noticed all the wedding gifts were on the table in the kitchen.

Aida and Madison got to the house around the same time Lia and Amadora woke up. As soon as they were all ready, Alice had them in chairs and was doing their hair. Claire finally arrived and was the last bridesmaid to be addressed. My hair and makeup was all done a good several hours before the ceremony and I was practically locked in Alice's room for the whole day. I finally got into my dress an hour before the ceremony was set to begin. I heard cars coming towards the house as it got closer and closer to the big moment and I felt myself getting dizzy.

"How're you feeling, Nessie?" I looked at Aida, who was standing next to me as we stood together waiting to start.

"I'm not sure. I'm so happy, but I feel nervous." Momma smiled and kissed my cheek.

"That's just butterflies, honey. I had them too. But don't worry. The moment you see him, all your nervousness will go away. That's what happened with me and Edward." Normally, momma was just say your father, but Madison was too close in earshot and she still thought that he was my uncle.

"Really?" Momma nodded.

"Yeah. I was so nervous and I'd been so opposed to the idea of getting married for so long that I felt like I was jumping into something I wasn't ready for. But when I saw Edward at the altar, all my fears when away and I ran to him. And I never regretted it a day in my life."

"Thanks for the advice." Momma smiled and nodded her head.

"Any time, honey."

Then she gave me a kiss on the cheek, went to daddy and gave him a kiss, then walked out of Alice's room to go sit with the other guests. Rosalie did a few last minute things to Valerie's hair before kissing her head and Ryan's head before leaving with momma. I looked at the clock and saw seven in bright red. I felt my heart racing and I started shaking when music started playing downstairs and Ryan and Valerie walked out of the room to go do their thing. I started shaking even more when my bridesmaids started walking. Daddy walked over to me and took my arm in his and gently caressed my hand.

"Don't worry, Nessie. Jacob's just as nervous as you are." I looked up at daddy.

"Why should he be nervous?" Daddy smiled.

"He's so close to having everything he ever wanted from the day he met you that he's scared. He's scared he won't be good enough or that he might do something to make you unhappy."

"He should know that he could never make me unhappy and there's no one better for me than him." Daddy grinned wider.

"True. You need to remember that yourself, sweetheart." I was quiet a moment before I felt tears stinging my eyes. Daddy just kept smiling and brushed away the tears that fell. I was so grateful for the waterproof makeup. "You grew up on me, honey. I wish I didn't have to let you go so soon."

"I know, daddy. I love you. You're the best father a girl could ever hope for." My voice was starting to chock with tears and daddy kept smiling and brushing away the tears.

"And you're the only person in this whole world that I love more than your mother." I smiled and breathed deep. "Let's get to the door. Rosalie and Dante will start playing the Canon march soon."

As we walked to the door, I breathed deeply, trying to will away all my nervousness. When I heard the music, daddy led me with him down the stairs and made sure it wasn't obvious that I was shaking. I kept my eyes closed the whole walk down, fearing that opening my eyes would make this all a dream. I didn't open my eyes until daddy squeezed my hand to let me know we were at the start of the aisle. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jacob at the end. He was suddenly all I could see. It was almost like everything around him was white and he was the only person in sight.

As momma promised, all my nervousness went away when I looked into his eyes. I could tell he was fighting back any tears that were forming. I couldn't think of a single place either of us would rather be at this moment. Daddy's pace with me seemed almost unbearable now. Daddy squeezed my hand again, silently telling me to be patient. We never took our eyes off each other as I walked down the aisle with daddy and my heart raced faster and faster the closer I got. Then finally, at long, long last, daddy and I reached the end and daddy handed me to Jacob. I walked to the spot in front of him and stared at Jacob, barely away of Billy when he started talking.

"Beloved friends and family, we're gathered here today to witness the union between Jacob William Black and Renesmee Carlie Cullen. These two found each other against all odds and have shown us all that there really is such a thing as love at first sight." Jacob and I smiled a little wider in humor before Billy continued. "That's not to say that they don't have their fair share of conflict.

"They've argued, they've been mad with one another, they've even said things to one another that they didn't mean. But what makes them special is that they overcame all those obstacles and have made it to this point without there ever being a doubt in their hearts that they loved each other, even during those bad times that every couple have.

"And it is my honor to be before you all today to marry my son to his true love that, in all truthfulness, I feared he would never find. I'm grateful to you Renesmee for being the sun in his life that he needed." Jacob started biting his lip from what I realized was nervousness again. "The couple has decided to write their own vows and it's time for them to say these vows to each other and before you, their witnesses."

Billy then looked at Jacob and Jacob took a deep breath and breathed out his nose before he opened his eyes again and looked right at me. I was smiling and he smiled back, taking in one more deep breath to relax before starting.

"Renesmee.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew I would love you for the rest of my life.

Your brown eyes brought me happiness and love that I never felt before.

Before you, I was empty

Alone with no one to hold and love

But that all changed thanks to you

I promise to be everything you want and need

To be the one that keeps you off the ground

I promise to give all I have

And cherish all that you give me

I'll always be by your side and hold your hand through the good times and the bad

I promise that nothing will ever come between us

And nothing will ever take away our love

But most importantly

I promise to love you

I will love everything about you, even the things that aren't so wonderful

Hear me and believe me when I say,

That I will always love you

Now, From now, and Forever more."

The whole time he spoke, I wasn't breathing. I feared I would start crying if I breathed. Jacob was smiling the most beautiful smile in the world and I was trembling from holding back tears of joy. Then Billy, and everyone else, turned their attention to me and waited for me to say my vows. I took a moment to get back control over my voice before I finally started saying the words I've been wanting to say all my life.

"Jacob,

"From the moment I met you, I knew I would love you for the rest of my life

In you I saw a best friend and a man that loved me

You were always there for me when I needed you most

And I was always safe and happy in your arms

So I promise to be everything you want and need

To be the one smiling at you when no one else will

I promise to cherish all you give me as you cherish all I give you

I promise to always support you and encourage you to move forward

Through the good times and the bad

I promise that nothing will ever come between us

Or break the bond you and I share

But most importantly,

I promise to love you

I will love everything about you

Because everything you do makes me smile

Hear me and believe me when I say,

That I will always love you

Now, From now, and Forever more."

It took all I had to make sure my voice didn't crack while I spoke. I heard Jacob's heartbeat speed up, so I didn't feel bad when mine did too. We never took our eyes off each other through the whole ceremony and barely heard Billy when he called Ryan over to give us our rings, which we both put on each other almost absentmindedly. When it finally got to the end, Billy allowed us to kiss and that's just what we did.

For the sake of our guests, we kept the kiss light. It was a simple kiss that lasted several seconds before we parted all too soon. Even if the kiss was fast, it held all the love in the world. We walked hand and hand down the aisle together while people clapped for us, neither of us really noticing them or their applause. Alice took us to the limo that was outside and it drove us to La Push First Beach with all our guests following behind us.

We all talked and laughed together during the reception sharing stories about Jacob's childhood and several other things. Jacob and I had our first dance shortly after everyone arrived and the song playing was the one Dante and Amadora performed for us the night Jacob proposed. Amadora didn't sing this time, but Dante played on his violin and it made me feel like I could float on air. I noticed Marcus and Didyme dancing together for a great deal of the reception. I'd never seen anything more but boredom and indifference when I looked at him. But being with Didyme, I saw something I never thought I'd see. A contented, loving, smile.

Half way through the reception, I noticed Marcelo hooking something up to the sound system that Alice had somehow gotten on the beach. When that was hooked up, he walked over to me where I was sitting with his usual arrogant, but charming smile and held out his hand to ask for a dance when he finally reached me. As he asked, a sad song began to play. I smiled and nodded my head, putting my hand in Marcelo's and letting him lead me with him out to the dance floor. The words to the song filled the spot we were in. The words were Spanish and they sang of loss and sadness.

"This is such a sad song." He nodded.

"La Soledad, I like to call it. I don't know the real name of the song. I just know it's by Alejandro Lerner and it's often portrayed with videos of La Día Nacional de la Memoria la Verdad y la Justicia and Los Desesperados and such."

"Why such a sad song?" He breathed.

"Honestly?" I nodded. "I've never spoken to you seriously, Renesmee. It's almost strange to do it now."

"Try. You can tell me what's on your mind. I won't get mad." This time, when he spoke, it was in Portuguese, wanting the conversation to be limited to just us. I was sure father could hear, but I knew Marcelo wasn't about to say anything offensive or father would've had a fit by now.

"_I know you won't. I know nothing I say will change anything, but I feel like I need to say it if I'll have any peace."_ Since he spoke in Portuguese, that's what I spoke too.

"_Then say what's on your mind."_ He nodded his head and took a calming breath before speaking.

"_I've always told you I love you. I wonder if you ever took me seriously when I said that."_ When he stopped, I realized he was waiting for a denial or conformation. I nodded my head telling him he's right. _"Yes, I thought so. But the fact of the matter is I never seemed serious. I want you to know that I always meant it when I said I love you."_

"_I know, Marcelo. I know."_

"_I mean no disrespect and I wish you and Jacob all the happiness in the world. But there's one thing I've been wanting to ask you."_

"_And what's that?"_ Marcelo took another deep breath like he was about to ask a question he didn't want to know the answer to.

"_Why him? What does he give you that I've failed to provide? What have I done to make you choose him over me?"_ I sighed, realizing this was more of a question I didn't want to answer. There was no simple answer to his question.

"_I've loved Jacob all my life, Marcelo. He's been my best friend all my life and he's always made me happy. I'm always happiest when I'm with him. And he's loved me from the beginning. I can't bear to even think of being without Jacob. He's everything to me. He always has been and he always will be. And there's nothing wrong with you Marcelo. In all honesty, if I'd never met Jacob and fallen in love, I would've almost certainly chosen you. You're charming, confident, arrogant in a way that makes me laugh, and you always know how to make me laugh or tease me. But in plain truth, you're just not Jacob."_ Marcelo took the speech a lot better than I thought he would. Instead of being mad, he smiled and kissed my hand to end our dance. And he returned to speaking English.

"I never had a chance. I know that."

"You'll find someone someday. I can promise you that."

"One can only hope. I can hardly believe that there might actually be a woman out there more wonderful than you that would be foolish enough to love me back."

"It happens every day. We are still friends, right?" He chuckled and nodded.

"Of course, meu encantadora."

Marcelo and I ended the conversation and he walked me back to the table where Jacob was sitting waiting for me to come back. Marcelo kissed my hand and walked away into the crowd looking for his sister.

"What did you two talk about?" I smiled at Jacob and kissed his nose.

"Something that I think needed to be out in the open."

Jacob wasn't sure what I meant by that, but he didn't pry and went on with what he'd been saying to Quil while holding my hand and looking at me from second to second. After all the guests had finished eating dinner (the ones actually eating anyway), Jacob and I went to a table that held our wedding cake and cut it together with lights from cameras flashing at us the whole time. When Jacob and I had cut a piece of the cake, we fed each other a piece and I ate my bite without a shred of complaint. When we had our bites, we shared a kiss and the pictures were being taken more frequently.

Everyone was taking pictures of us through the whole reception. More than one family member wanted a picture of us in front of the shoreline, another person thought it would be cool if we took a picture up on the ledge, then momma got a picture of us together near the white fallen timber that was further up the coastline, which I thought was only appropriate. It was the spot where this all started. It seemed right to have a wedding picture there. Later in the night, Aida, to my surprise, started a string of toasts.

"Hey." She said this a few times until she had everyone's attention. She looked uncomfortable, but she smiled anyway. "I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Renesmee and her new husband, Jacob."

She looked at us and we smiled back at her. The guests clapped their hands in agreement to Aida's declaration and she stood there waiting for everyone to quiet down before she kept going.

"I can honestly say, Nessie, that you deserve this. You both do. You've loved each other more than anyone I've ever known and I can say with honest certainty that you two will really be together forever. Not many people can say that. I'm just glad to know that you can. You're one of very few people in this world that I'm happy to call my friend, Nessie. And I wish you and Jacob the best of luck."

When Aida finished her little speech, she sat back down while the guests joined me and Jacob in clapping our hands. Once again, I noticed Aida seemed a little uncomfortable with being the center of attention. I was grateful to her for to come out of her comfort zone and congratulate me. I knew something like that wasn't easy for her.

Madison then took her turn and started saying words of congratulations to me and Jacob too. But halfway through, she started crying because my leaving for college came up and Lia tried soothing her. She was the only one of my bridesmaids that wasn't either anti-touching or didn't think she was overreacting.

When Madison and Aida said their piece, Quil stood and gave us his blessings too. Seth did the same and that was the end of toasts for the night. The last thing for the night was the bonfire that was lit before we left. When it was lit, all the guests danced around it to a song that Dante was playing on his violin. It was distinctly Irish, I could tell, but it made the moment seem more upbeat. I realized, while Dante was playing, that Maggie knew the steps to the River Dance. It was the cutest thing to watch her tap dance around the bonfire.

Jacob and I left the reception with the family in the limo we came in. Alice told us to be on our way and let them have a little more fun at the reception and reminding us that we had a plane to catch tomorrow to San Diego. The flight wasn't until noon, but we would need to leave at least three hours early and it was almost one in the morning as it is. But despite the time, Jacob and I weren't that tired at all. We were kissing and saying I love you the whole drive to Seattle. Normally, that would be a thirty minute drive at best with Jacob or my parents. But since the driver was just any driver, he drove the speed limit.

The limo driver knocked on the window between the driver's seat and back seat to let us know that we'd arrived at the hotel we were staying at. Alice had booked us a suit on the tenth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel on Union Street in Seattle. It was a large room with a king sized bed and a gorgeous bathroom. That's what I saw in the pictures at least. And the room we got, Alice made sure, had a view of the bay.

Jacob and I walked to the desk and got the keys to our room, then walked to the elevator. Alice had already put our luggage in the suit the day before, so we didn't have to worry about any of that. We ignored the people that looked at us and went straight to the elevator holding hands the whole time. When the doors to the elevator closed, we were staring at the door holding hands. I wasn't nervous like I thought I'd be. It seemed silly to be nervous when I'd been wanting this for so long. If anything, I was getting annoyed with the elevator for not going fast enough. When it finally reached our floor, Jacob and I walked out of the elevator and followed the numbers until we found our room. When we did, Jacob opened the door and held it open for me and came in, closing the door behind him, when I was in.

Our luggage was there as Alice promised it would be and it was resting against the wall near the TV in the room. Jacob didn't come near me at first. I was scared that he was nervous. I wished he wasn't. There was no need for him to be. A minute passed before Jacob finally walked over to me. He placed his hand on my neck and his thumb started massaging my spine. I felt myself turning to jelly. After a minute, his other hand went to my neck and mimicked what the other hand was doing.

He did this for several minutes, relieving tension I didn't even realize was there and it relaxed me. Finally, he stopped massaging my neck and took me into his arms while I was still facing away from him and he kissed my neck. I brought my hands to his arms and rubbed them while he kissed my neck lovingly. I rested all my weight on Jacob and I felt him smile as he kissed my neck.

"I love you, Renesmee." I smiled and turned my head so we were looking at each other.

"I love you too, Jacob." Jacob and I smiled at each other before we kissed and Jacob moved me so I was facing him and took me back in his arms as we kissed. I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me.

The kiss was special, even if it was simple at first. I could feel Jacob losing his nervousness as the kiss went on, but the kiss stayed simple for the most part. I wanted it to get more into it, but I wasn't sure if I should initiate something more. I decided to do so and I took his bottom lip between mine and sucked on his lip gently. Jacob did the same to me and his hands began searching, trying to get my dress off. He searched until he found the top of the zipper and pulled the down as far as he could reach.

He brought his hands back up and lifted me up so my dress would fall completely off, leaving me in the bra and panties I'd worn just for this occasion. It was shear, but covered enough that it would tease him. Jacob didn't put me back on my feet. Instead, he pulled me to his level and kept kissing me while holding me up. I wrapped my legs around his hips to get a better hold of him and let myself get lost in the kiss.

Jacob started walking aimlessly, but I wasn't paying attention to where he might be going. I just paid attention to his hands and the things they were doing. His rough skin caressed against my skin and made me shiver. My hands started pulling on his jacket, trying to get it off with no success. I wasn't sure if I should go ahead and rip it or let him take it off. I moved my hands to his chest and tried pushing his jacket aside, still with no luck. Finally, Jacob took the jacket off for me, never taking his lips away from mine and I heard the fabric hit the floor.

I heard Jacob's knees hit the edge of the bed and he placed me down. Since my hands were now free, I ran them down his chest and undid every shirt button I encountered until I finally felt his skin and pushed the shirts away from him so that his chest was bare to my touch. Jacob's hands held my face as we kissed and he pushed his tongue passed my lips to deepen the kiss the way I wanted most. Jacob hand to bend a little to reach me, but the bed itself was really tall, so that helped out a lot. My hands stayed on his chest and traveled all over, trying to take him all in. This would be the first time I'd seen him like this in at least three years and I was eager to get to see him again.

We kissed for several minutes and our hands traveled all over the whole time we kissed. We needed air, so Jacob took his lips away from mine and started kissing my jaw to my ear. Then he sucked on my ear while his hands went to my hair and took out all the pins and barrettes holding my hair up. I brought my hands to my hair to help him get my hair down and he dug his fingers through my hair when it was finally free. While he sucked on my ear, I brushed my nails down his spine, earning a shudder.

"Can you believe it, Jacob? We're finally married." Jacob answered my question, but he answered while still running the tip of his tongue all along my ear.

"I can't believe you still wanted to marry me after all those childhood stories Quil told you." I giggled, both from his comment and the fell of his tongue behind my ear.

"It would take a lot more to make me not want to marry you than finding out that Sam's dad always knew you as, 'That son of a bitch that stole my bike'." Jacob chuckled and started sucking on the spot his tongue had been. "I can't believe you stole his bike and skipped school just because you didn't want to take a math test."

"It was fractions, Nessie. Fractions are evil." I giggled and Jacob kissed the spot where he'd sucked on my skin before continuing. "And remember that Quil, Embry, and Seth were with me when that happened."

"And that makes it their fault that you stood on the bike and hit your head on a branch?"

"It was a thick branch, Nessie. It's more plausible than it sounds. And I was eight when that happened, so there. And they left me to die."

"They went home and told Sue." Jacob shook his head and nuzzled my neck at the same time and his hands went to my breasts and massaged them lovingly.

"No, Nessie. They ran home and weren't planning to say anything. But Seth panicked and blurted out, 'Jacob's dead', to his mom. She called Billy, Billy got pissed, and it just went downhill from there."

"It's still a cute story." I brought Jacob's face up so he was looking at me. "But can I ask something?"

"Sure. What?"

"Let's make sure our kids aren't like that. I'm not sure if I can get greys or not, but I'd rather not push my luck." Jacob burst into laughter and his head fell to my shoulder and his hands squeezed my breasts more.

"I can't make any promises, but we can try." I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair.

"That's all I ask." He kept smiling and returned to kissing me and continued his hand's previous actions with my breasts.

As he kissed my neck and shoulders, the hands that had been rubbing my breast traveled around to the back of my bra and unclipped and pulled off my bra. I maneuvered my arms so my bra would fall and then my hands went back to his shoulders. He kissed my shoulders and collarbone gently and sweetly. Then he kissed between my breasts and I fell back on the bed. Jacob and I smiled at each other while I pulled myself further onto the bed. Jacob followed, also throwing the pillows behind him until he was right where he wanted to be and kissed me.

The kiss was fast a sweet. He kissed my chin, down my neck, then finally took my breast between his lips. I trembled and grabbed a hold of Jacob's shoulders. One of Jacob's hands massaged the breast he was kissing while the other was running along my ribs and tickling my skin. I was biting my lips to avoid moaning loudly. The last thing I wanted was to bug the people next door and have them ruining the moment and demanding we be quiet.

My nipple hardened from just his lips and I was shaking the moment his tongue started running around my nipple. I tried to keep the noise at bay, but I still moaned from his touch in the back of my throat. I'd felt Jacob start to get hard a long time ago, but the new act was making him harder and it made me blush.

As Jacob kissed to my other breast, I tried reaching down to touch him, but my arms weren't long enough. The farthest I could get were the button of his pants, and even that was a far reach. I felt Jacob smile against my breast and I tried to reach further and played with his belt. He rarely ever wore belts, so it was weird. But I managed to get the buckle undone and pulled the belt from the hoops. Jacob laughed a little and kissed my rib cage.

"And I thought I was anxious." I swatted Jacob's shoulder and he laughed a little.

"Stop being mean." Jacob chuckled and kissed my ribcage before kissing along my stomach. He kissed every inch that he passed and his hand traveled further down.

I couldn't even think, so it didn't occur to me what Jacob was doing until he was actually doing it. His hand went over my hip and pulled down my panties and I pushed them the rest of the way down by kicking them off. Jacob's hand traveled over my thigh and my butt until his hand trailed between my legs. I gasped when I felt his hand there and I moaned when Jacob ran his thumb over my nub. When Jacob kissed down to my hips, he put two fingers inside me and I felt like I was on the brink of tears and all the muscles in my neck went limp. And when he brought his lips between my legs and kissed affectionately and passionately, I just about came undone.

My fingers were laced through his short hair and I was holding onto him for dear life. I felt Jacob smile against me and kept going. His tongue worked wonders and made circles around my nub while moving his fingers around. My mind was empty of any comprehensible thought by then and I felt like I was climbing into the sky to something unknown. I took my hands away from Jacob and took a hold of the bed sheets, fearing that I might crush Jacob's head if I kept holding on. Jacob's free hand ran down my leg until he reached my foot and pulled off my shoe. That hand reached over to pull of my other shoe.

When my shoes were off, that hand trailed back up my leg until he grabbed my hip and squeezed tightly. Eventually, I couldn't fight moans anymore. Jacob heard it and his actions increased and he started moving faster. I heard something tear, but I didn't care. Jacob didn't either. I was starting to see white behind my eyes and I felt myself floating above my own body. I was going so high that I almost felt weightless and heavy all at once. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and my body simply collapsed. I felt like I'd just broken, but it was incredible. I tried not to scream or yell. Instead, I just whined his name and I heard even more tearing.

What made it better was that it was lasting. I was high in the air for at least fifteen seconds and I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head. While I was coming down from my high slowly as a feather in high wind, Jacob kissed my hips, my hands, my ribcages, my breasts, my neck, then finally me. When our lips met again, I brought my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips and I felt his hardness between my legs. It made me want more and I lifted my hips to meet his, which made him groan and thrust once forward. That made me whimper.

"Jacob, please. I need you." Jacob sucked on my ear and took a hold of my legs.

"Not yet. I want this to last." I shook my head.

"Don't tease me, Jacob." He shook his head again kissed all over my neck.

Out of frustration, I pushed him off me and took a spot straddling his hips on the bed. Jacob smiled and he ran his hands all over my breasts and torso. I bent down to kiss him and my hands wandered down to his pants and I rubbed his erection. He groaned into the kiss and I felt proud to make him feel like this. I felt around trying to memorize that part of his body with touch. He bit my lip and sucked on my tongue while I touched him and I tried running my tongue along the roof of his mouth. Before ending the kiss, I grabbed his erection tightly and he had a sharp intake of breath in my mouth. Then I kissed his chin and kissed down his neck.

As I started kissing his chest, I ran my tongue on random parts and held him tightly. Jacob's hand took a tight hold of my head by threading his fingers through my hair and held me where I was. I scratched his skin with my long nails and he groaned from it. I kissed all along his chest until I reached the top of his pants. Then he pulled himself up to sit and grabbed a hold of my arms and pulled me back to him.

He forced his tongue through my lips and grabbed a hold of my butt and forced my hips against his, which made me moan his name against his lips. I never took my hands away from where I'd put them. I wanted to memorize him and really know him the way only I ever would. We were breathing hard and Jacob's hands were roaming all over me. He bit my bottom lip again and I bit his tongue, but just as gently. I tore away from the kiss and slid off him until I was on my knees on the floor before him. I unbuttoned his dress pants and impatiently forced them off until he was naked as me.

He was just as I remembered him. His body was muscular and masculine. And he was hard and proud all over, especially where I wanted him to be. Jacob tried to pull me back up to him, but I stayed where I was and took a hold of him and rubbed his thigh with my free hand.

"You don't have to do that, Nessie." I smiled.

"You did it for me."

"Because I wanted to."

"So do I." Jacob smiled and pulled me back up and gave me a kiss. I stroked him the whole time and I heard him groan in the back of his throat.

"I think I'll come undone if you do."

"That's the point, isn't it?" Jacob chuckled and kissed me again.

"Yeah, but I want to come undone inside you." I grinned and licked his top lip before giving him a quick kiss.

"Then I won't do it for very long. Just let me know when I need to stop." Jacob's other hand took a hold of my breast while his other hand stayed in my hair.

"I don't think I could last long." I smiled wider.

"It's okay. We can always start over."

That's when I bent my head back down and kissed him before he could say another word. He groaned and lost his hold of my head. I could tell it took all his efforts to keep himself upright. I was kissing along the side, trying to remember anything Aida told me. I was embarrassed that I was trying to remember what Aida told me about her love life to get this right. I also thought about anything I'd heard in the girls' locker room.

Eventually, I decided to just go with the flow and took him in. I took in too much and I almost chocked. I started coughing and Jacob was on his knees in front of me immediately and held my face to make me look at him. His face was horrified and scared.

"Nessie? Baby, are you okay?" I tried to stop coughing and nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry. I've never done anything like that."

"Don't worry about it, Nessie. You don't have to do that." I shook my head.

"No, it's okay. I know to breathe through my nose from now on and to keep my throat clear."

"Ness, don't force yourself to do something just to please me."

"I said I want to. Just let me try again and I'll do it right this time."

"Nessie, I don't want you doing something that'll choke you."

"Jacob." I pinched his lips shut when he tried to talk again. "I said I want to. And if I say I want to, then I want to and I'll do it. Normally I'd say whether you like it or not, but I think in this case, that doesn't really apply as much."

I kept Jacob's lips closed until he nodded his head to agree with me. I pushed Jacob back onto the bed and he took a seat without argument. When he was sitting before me again, I took a deep breath and went back to what I'd been doing. This time, I breathed through my nose and kept my throat clear as I took him in. When I had him in as far as I could handle, I held my breath and sucked as hard as I could.

I was taken by surprised when Jacob groaned and grabbed my head and pulled me away from him. I was gasping for breath and so was Jacob. He pulled me up to him and pulled me with him as he fell backwards onto the bed. My head fell onto his shoulder and he grabbed a tight hold on me by hugging me with one arm. His other hand moved to my hip and lifted me up slightly. Then Jacob looked at me. I was barely aware anymore and I was still breathing deeply.

"Do you want me to go slow or just get it over with?" I would've given Jacob a questioning look, but I was too lost to do it.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a virgin. It'll hurt at first. Do you want me to ease in or just go all the way and make it come all at once?"

"Oh." I breathed in and out as I thought. I couldn't seem to remember how I'd wanted to do this. I couldn't remember what I'd planned to ask for. So I picked something at random. "Do it quickly. I want the pain gone as quickly as possible." Jacob nodded.

"Alright, Nessie."

I smiled at him lovingly and he smiled back before turning us onto our sides. Once he had us where he wanted, he pulled my leg up to rest onto his hip before he positioned himself at my entrance. Then he put his hand on my hip again and pulled me towards him. He entered me in one stroke and the pain was instantaneous. I squealed into his mouth and Jacob kissed my lips, then every part of my face.

"It'll be over soon, Nessie. I won't move until you tell me to."

"Just give it a moment. Roll onto your back again." Jacob nodded and pulled me with him as he went to his back. He held me into his arms and I rested my head on his chest, willing for the pain to go away.

"Did that help?"

"A little. How are you feeling?" Jacob laughed a little under his breath. As much of a laugh as he could manage with such a short amount of breath.

"I don't know. Nothing I think of compares." I smiled and kissed his chest. Jacob took a deep breath. "Is it almost gone?"

"Almost. Just a little longer."

Jacob nodded and kissed my forehead. Then he waited patiently for me to adjust to him. I felt fuller than I'd ever felt before. It really was like finding the missing piece of a puzzle. I felt more like a woman in his arms than I'd ever felt in my life, even in my wedding dress. Even that didn't compare. A few moments later, the pain was almost completely gone. So I pushed myself up with my hands on his chest. It hurt slightly more, but not enough to keep me down.

"Okay. You can start moving." Jacob brought himself up into a sitting position and kissed me passionately.

As he kissed me, he started moving his hips and it made me gasp. It was an odd combination of the left over pain and a new pleasurable feeling.

"You okay, Nessie?" Jacob asked me against my lips. I nodded my head.

"Better than. Keep going." Jacob smiled and I continued the kiss as he did as I told him and kept moving.

A few thrusts later, Jacob moved his hands to my hips and started forcing my hips in the directions he wanted. I was moaning and pulling his hair at the roots. How his hair stayed in, I'll never know. It wasn't long until I was moving on my own. When I was, Jacob's hands left my hips and went up to my breasts and massaged them lovingly. He took his lips away from mine and started kissing and sucking my breasts. With his lips away from mine, every breathy moan left me.

Jacob got tired of the current position and moved again so that I was on my back on the bed and he was kneeling before me. He left me for a moment and it made me feel empty and needy. When I was where he wanted me, he reentered me and wasted no time before moving again. I stayed on my back because it felt better. The pain was completely gone by now and all I felt was pleasure. Jacob rested his weight on his elbows, which he had on either side of my face and he went straight to my neck and sucked harshly. I brought my arms up around his shoulders and dug my nails into his skin as he moved.

Jacob was gradually thrusting faster and faster as he went along. Because of it, each thrust felt better than the one before. A few minutes later, Jacob turned me slightly so I was more on my side. When he did that, I started holding my breath. It was so much better than before. I moaned loudly, but I tried to hold it in by biting my lip. Jacob started moving faster and my moans turned into something closer to a whine. I grabbed onto Jacob's arms that were holding onto my hips. He was about to move me, but I didn't want him to.

"No, I like this spot." Jacob smiled.

"I had something in mind that I thought you might like better." I moaned his name.

"Jacob, don't tease me."

"I'm not teasing you, Nessie."

Then Jacob bent back down and took me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and he pulled me with him as he stood up off the bed. His hands stayed on my hips and he lifted me up and down and I held onto him tightly. His movements were faster than ever and I was flying again. I was getting close again and it felt wonderful. I rested my head on Jacob's shoulder and started biting his skin. He grunted and would thrust even harder whenever I did. My nails were digging into his skin and I could taste a little blood on my lips from biting him. The savory flavor added to the feeling inside me and it wasn't long before I couldn't think.

He seemed to get harder inside me and his grip on me got tighter too. The muscles in my lower abdomen were tightening too and it was tighter than the first time. I had to bite Jacob repeatedly to keep myself from screaming his name. Jacob followed suit and sucked on my neck for the rest of it. I was shaking long before I came. I was breathing erratically and his scent was intoxicating me more than ever. I was dizzy and felt like no more than a puddle in his hands. I felt his muscles get more and more tense the more times he thrust into me.

Before I finally broke and my body collapsed onto itself, I could swear I'd seen what was the closest to heaven I could ever reach and there were stars behind my eyes. I felt it all over my body. The implosion sent a tingling sensation through my spine up to my brain and down my legs. I felt the surge behind my eyes even. Jacob almost roared into my skin and I felt his end come shortly after my own and his grip tighten on me impossibly more. I was still floating in nothing when he emptied inside me and lost his balance, falling back into bed with me on top and in his arms.

I felt numb, but it was the best numbness anyone could ever hope for. My mind was coming back, but I still couldn't think straight. We were both gulping in air, trying to clear our heads of the fog we both had. When I had strength back in my neck, I started kissing Jacob's chest and moaning, not able to make any other sounds. Jacob was shaking just like I was. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was about to faze.

"Was it worth the wait?" Jacob asked when he had enough breath and mind to talk. He was still gasping for air, but his words were clear enough.

"Abso-fucking-lutely." Jacob chuckled and brought my face to his so he could kiss me. "How about you? Was it worth the wait?" He nodded.

"It was worth every year." I smiled and Jacob kissed me again. He pulled out and pulled me with him so we were laying on the bed vertically. He didn't take his lips away from mind until our heads rested on the pillows. "How was it?"

"You need to ask?" We laughed together and Jacob nodded.

"I'd like to know." I giggled again and gave him a quick kiss.

"It was better than blood." Jacob chuckled. "How was I?"

"The orgasm almost killed me." I giggled under my breath and Jacob kept smiling.

"Is that a good thing?" Jacob nodded.

"Very good. Great, actually. I wish we could do that all day long."

"Sure we can." Jacob shook his head.

"Unfortunately, we need to sleep. So that butts into our time." I pouted and it made Jacob chuckle.

"Stupid sleep." Jacob smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Stupid sleep." We laughed together and kissed a few times as we laughed. When the laughter died down, Jacob looked at me seriously. "Are you sore at all?"

"A little. But it'll go away soon enough. Besides, any bruise I might've gotten was totally worth it. I don't think anything Aida lent me will be needed." Jacob chuckled.

"Maybe on a day when we get really adventurous." I giggled and nodded.

"Alright. One day."

Jacob smiled and brought his lips to mine again. He made the kiss passionate and forced his tongue between my lips. I moaned into his mouth and let my head fall back when the muscles in my neck went numb again. I smiled when a little idea came to my mind. I brought my hand between us and started stroking him. He was beginning to get hard again. Then I started pushing thoughts into his head. Everything that had just happened was being pushed into his mind. It made him hard in an instant and he was already inside me and moving us to our own beat again.

After we came again while holding onto each other tightly, we finally fell asleep. I simply couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. And since the second time was just as good as the first, it took almost everything out of me that I had left. We both woke up to the sound of the phone in our room ringing. Jacob answered it and thanked whoever it was before hanging up the phone. I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

"Who was it?"

"It was someone at the front desk who was calling to wake us up. Our plane leaves in four hours, so we better get going. I'll take a shower first and get done quickly." Jacob was about to get out of bed, but I grabbed onto his arm and he turned his attention to me with a confused stare.

"We could take a shower together, you know. It would save more time." Jacob grinned and shook his head at me.

"What am I going to do with you?" His tone was teasing, so I teased back.

"Everything you did last night should do just fine." Jacob chuckled and turned his body towards me so he could lift me into his arms and carry me with him to the shower. But first, he looked at the bed sheets.

"Looks like you didn't bleed too much. There's a small spot, but nothing too bad."

"That's good. But I doubt they'll ever use the sheets again if they see blood on it." Jacob chuckled and shrugged.

"They can always put it on the tab, I guess."

"Exactly." I reached my head to his cheek and kissed him. "Now let's get to our shower." Jacob grinned and started walking to the shower.

"Sure thing, Nessie."

We made sure the shower didn't last long. We made love, of course, but we were covered in soap and shampoo for most of it. By the time Jacob and I climaxed, most of the soap was gone. We dried off quickly and got dressed in our regular clothes. Alice had left a plastic dress bag in the closet for me to hang my dress in with a note telling me that she'd get it after Jacob and I left. Just to be sure, I called Alice asking her if she'd left that. She said she had, so I put the dress in it and kept it in the closet. I stared at it a few minutes while Jacob pulled his shirt over his head.

"You looked so beautiful in that dress."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I almost cried. I couldn't believe that this wonderful, gorgeous woman walking down the aisle was really my bride and that she wanted to marry me."

"I wouldn't want anyone else, Jacob." I zipped up the bag for the dress and turned to face Jacob. "And no one else will ever be as good as you." Jacob smiled and brought his lips to mine in a loving kiss. It was simple, but it was intense and passionate. When he took his lips away, he rested his forehead against mine.

"I don't know what I'd be without you, Nessie. You gave me meaning. And I love you more than my own life." I responded with my voice broken from tears.

"I love you too, Jacob. More than I'll ever be able to say." Jacob grinned and kissed me again. Then he pulled me into a hug and kissed my neck. The next thing he said brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't help but cry into his shirt.

"Now, From now, and Forever more."


	23. Elder House

**Elder House**

The two weeks in San Diego were the best weeks of my life, I can honestly say. When we got to the hotel after a three hour plane ride, we didn't leave for a solid three days. When we did finally leave the hotel, we would walk around on the beach and all the things we normally would at first beach. The only difference was the sun and that we were both on cloud nine.

When the two weeks passed, we were reluctant to go home. But even though we didn't want to, we got on the plane and went home. Everyone had left by now. I was sad to say goodbye to Lia, but I knew I'd see her again sometime soon. One of the first things Jacob and I did when we got back was open all our wedding presents. Daddy and the others had already brought them to the house for us, so they were waiting when we got there. One of the gifts was two photo albums with pictures from our wedding day on every page, one for me when I go to college and one for Jacob to keep at home while I was away.

"So when do you need to be at Northwestern?" Jacob asked me while we were looking at our gifts.

"School starts August 24th, so I need to be there on the 21st."

"Okay, then we have time. So what did Titus get us?" I looked around at the gifts until I found their gift and opened it.

Inside the box was a large wooden box, red wood, that was lined with gold and had little designs on the lid made of thin gold. My name and Jacob's name were engraved in the wood in flawless handwriting. I pulled it out of its packaging and saw a little lock on it that was also surrounded by designs of gold.

"What is that?" I didn't answer Jacob at first. I noticed a key under the box and took that out.

It was one of those old keys that was made of gold. It was a stunning key to look at. I stuck it into the lock and opened the lid of the large wooden box when it was unlocked. As soon as I opened the box, a romantic song began to play. I didn't recognize the song, but it was a stunning song that left me falling in love. The inside was lined with red velvet, but didn't look to be for anything in particular. The box itself was huge compared to the inside of it. It must use most of the room to house the instrument inside.

"A music box?" I nodded.

"That's what it looks like. Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing it's handmade?"

"Of course. He said it was."

"So where are we going to put it?"

I looked at the box a moment, then looked over at my photo album. The inside was a little bigger than it. I took my photo album and placed it into the box. There was still room, so I took Jacob's Champaign glass with his name on it and put it in next to the book. I brought the lid down a moment without locking it and they all fit inside perfectly.

"Would you mind if I took it with me?" Jacob shook his head.

"Not at all. The more you have of home the better. And since that thing has a lock on it, it'll be easier to make sure nothing happens to anything." I nodded.

"Exactly. I won't have to worry about people touching stuff without my permission." Jacob chuckled and scooted closer to me, kissing my neck.

"Possessive much?" I giggled and shook my head.

"It's not being possessive. It's because cautious of my things in a notoriously destructive environment." Jacob laughed and kissed my neck again.

"You would know better than me."

I swatted Jacob's shoulder with a smile and it only made him laugh more. He grabbed a hold of my wrist when I took another swat at him and lifted me into his arms. When I was on my feet, Jacob kneeled down and carried my legs so he was holding me completely off the ground. I kept swatting his chest, but it was halfhearted and completely ineffective. We were smiling at each other the whole time until he finally just kissed me and I stopped hitting him all together.

We didn't finish unwrapping our presents until later that night and it ended up being while I was cooking dinner for Jacob. And as luck would have it, we didn't find the crock-pot until I'd already finished making dinner. The next day, we started putting the gifts away and placing them in spots that complemented the space. We were planning to stay in again, but Alice called and told us to come over.

"Why do they bother making that much food if they aren't going to eat it?" I smiled at Jacob as I walked into the walk-in closet to change.

"You weren't the only one there. Seth, Quil, and Embry were there too. Let's face it, you guys eat a lot."

"Nessie, they had leftovers. What need do they have for leftovers?"

"Jacob, you're going to be eating there a lot more often when I'm away at college. I can't feed you from Illinois." Jacob, who I hadn't realized walked into the walk-in, wrapped his arms around my waist after I'd gotten my shirt over my head.

"Not true. You could send me Portillo's sandwiches or Lou Malnati's pizza. I hear they send that stuff if a former Chicagoan wants a taste of home."

"You can have all the pizza and roast beef as you want when we go there to visit. But I'm not sending it to you. I doubt very seriously that the food would be any good by the time it got to you."

"If that were the case, people wouldn't have been doing it for over fifty years."

"And how do you know they've been doing it for that long?"

"They advertised it on one of their delivery advertisements." I smiled and Jacob kissed my neck while I searched for a shirt.

"Fine, I'll send you some. But don't think for a minute that I'll let you make that your primary diet. Because I won't." Jacob chuckled and nuzzled my neck.

"I didn't say that. I just asked for you to send it every now and then. That's all. I don't want to eat at your parent's house all the time. Besides, I'm trying to avoid Bella." I turned my head to look at Jacob with a confused expression.

"What did you do to momma?"

"Nothing. But she knows about the whole, 'doing favors for her' thing, and she looked like she was genuinely thinking about something. I'd rather not be around when she comes up with something she thinks is suitable."

"Jacob, what's the worst she could ask you to do? Mow the lawn on a rainy day?"

"You never know, Nessie. She might come up with something bad just to tease me." I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"You're delusional, Jacob. Momma isn't going to do that. Hell, I'd be surprised if she made you do anything at all." Jacob shook his head.

"I'd be surprised if she didn't. Trust me, she's planning something." I rolled my eyes again and turned in Jacob's arms until I was facing him and kissed his nose.

"Stop worrying about it and kiss me." Jacob chuckled a moment before he did as I said and kissed me.

The kiss started out as sweet, but it became gradually more passionate as we stood there and kissed each other. It wasn't long before Jacob's hands were running along my back and found the clasp to my bra. I remembered that Jacob had patrol tonight, so starting anything wasn't an option for now. So I pinched his neck and made him groan in surprise and look at me with the same surprised expression.

"Now's not the time to start something. You have patrol tonight."

"They can wait." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"You always say it bothers you whenever the others think about this. They think about it because it recently happened. I don't want to be mean to your pack members."

"So what? It's okay for Seth to have some fun after class before he goes on patrol for the night and think about it all he wants, but I can't have fun with you just before I leave?" He was still smiling, though I think Jacob was trying to be mad. I just shook my head at him.

"Jacob, its common courtesy. But when you get home, I'm all yours. Promise." Jacob grinned.

"I'll still think about it, you know."

"Well, I can't help what you think. I can only make an effort to keep it from being the only thing on your mind." Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"Always thinking about others before me."

"That's not true." Jacob hugged me again.

"I know. I'm just teasing you." Jacob looked over my head at the clock we had in the closet, then smiled at me. "I guess I should get going. I'll definitely take you up on your offer about morning." I giggled and kissed him.

"I would expect you to." Jacob grinned and bent down to kiss me one more time before he let go of me.

"I'll see you in the morning, baby." I blushed to myself as Jacob walked out of the closet and opened the French balcony doors to jump down to the woods. Even now, hearing him call me pet names made me blush.

When Jacob was gone, I closed the French doors and locked up the house. He knew where the key was, so he wouldn't have a problem getting back in the house. I stayed up a little longer, not feeling really tired at the moment. To keep myself occupied, I cleaned around the house and put the dishes away that were done cleaning in the dishwasher. I finally went to bed around eleven at night and went to sleep almost immediately. I was sound asleep for the whole night and woke up to a mind blowing sensation. I felt it all the way to my toes and behind the lids of my eyes and my hand clutched onto the arm that was around my waist.

I was breathing a little heavily after the sensation was starting to die down. I could still feel him there, so it was making the sensation last a little longer. I felt Jacob kissing along my neck and behind my ear as I started coming down from my high. When he started kissing my chin, I turned my head and kissed him in return. As I kissed him, Jacob pulled on my waist so I was facing him and I wrapped my arms around his neck and his wrapped around my waist.

"Morning, Nessie."

"Morning yourself. That was one hell of a wakeup call." Jacob smiled proudly and kissed my nose.

"I was just taking you up on your offer." I giggled.

"I'm glad you did. But I was asleep for most of the process, so I'm a little upset." Jacob never stopped smiling.

"We could always go again. I'm not too tired."

I didn't say anything in response. I just pushed him onto his back and climbed onto him to straddle his hips and bent my head down to kiss him. When our lips met, Jacob's hands went straight to my butt and squeezed and pushed down so there was friction. The friction made us both moan and intensified the kiss.

Thanks to Jacob, all I had to remove was my tank top and bra. When that was off, I went back to him and continued what I'd been doing. Jacob's hands moved all over my butt and back while my hands threaded through his hair to bring him closer. When our tongues met, it made the kiss better and I ran my tongue along every part of his mouth. Somehow, during the move, I'd managed to keep him inside me, and I could feel him getting hard again. That combined with his kisses was making my head spin and sent shocks through my spine all the way to my toes.

Jacob took his lips from mine suddenly and brought his mouth to a part of my neck and maneuvered his tongue over my skin and sucked and bit gently and greedily. My neck lost all its strength and my head fell to rest on Jacob's shoulder. Then Jacob one of Jacob's arms wrapped around my waist while the other pulled on the sheets until he could change our position so I was on bottom and he on top. Then those hands went straight to my breasts and played with them, never taking his mouth from my neck or pulling out. I lifted my legs so that my feet were now resting on the bed and my knees were up and straddling his hips.

I lifted my hips a little to tease him and I felt him groan against my neck and a slight vibration in his chest. Jacob kissed back down my neck and my collarbone until he got to my breasts. When he took my breast in his mouth, I felt my whole body turn to jelly. I was moaning his name and digging my nails into his skin on his back. Both our skin was glistening from the sweat on our bodies and it added to the potency of Jacob's scent, which made me dizzy and unable to think.

Jacob's tongue circled around my nipple repeatedly and would nip at it gently. When he was done with my right breast, he kissed his way to my left and copied his previous actions like he always does. My hands went to his head and I grabbed a tight hold of his hair as I kept moaning and biting my bottom lip. When Jacob was done there, he kissed my collarbone up my neck and sucked on my ear. Then he kissed along my jaw, then my nose, then my lips.

As soon as our lips were joined, Jacob started moving inside me again. He started a slow pace and kept my moans muffled from his lips moving over mine. My grip on his hair tightened as he moved and began to increase the pace. His hands went from my breasts to either side of my face on the sheets so he would have a tighter and firmer hold of something to help his movements. When his hands were in place, he started to move even faster. Neither of us could breathe anymore, so Jacob took his lips from mine and sucked on my ear, adding to how wonderful I felt.

Then he started moving impossibly faster and I felt my eyes role into the back of my head. I took my hands away from Jacob's head and sent then to his back and let my nails dig into his skin. My whole body was tightening at my core and I felt like a floating mass that was kept down by Jacob's body. The more he moved, the higher went and the lighter and heavier I felt. I tried to bring him closer to me, knowing full well it was impossible to bring him any closer unless I fused with him.

Before long, I couldn't seem to go any higher and the muscles inside me snapped and I felt myself collapse upon myself and my body fill with electricity. Jacob thrust only three more times before he stopped and he was shaking in my arms. We breathed heavily as we came down and this time, Jacob pulled out of me and plopped on top of me. I smiled a little at how tired that had made him. Granted he'd been up all night, so it was expected. But he didn't fall asleep.

"Are you still not tired?" Jacob shook his head.

"That took a lot out of me." I giggled and kissed his cheek while hugging him tightly.

"Do you want to get some sleep before I make you anything for breakfast?" Jacob shook his head.

"I'll just wait until after I've slept. I probably won't wake up at least until lunch." I thought that was an odd guess, but then I looked at the time and saw that it was four thirty in the morning.

"Wow. You got home early." Jacob shrugged.

"The guys got tired of listening to me and sent me home." Jacob chuckled. "So much for controlling how much I think about you. All I could think about was you the whole night, I wanted you so badly." I smiled and kissed him sweetly.

"It's not like they don't think like that."

"That's what I said last night, but you told me I was wrong." I smiled wider.

"Well, now it's right. Now get some sleep. I'll try to sleep a little more. Four thirty's just too early for me." Jacob smiled and kissed me before he turned onto his back and pulled me with him until I was on his chest resting my head on my nook.

"Night, then. I love you, Nessie." I kissed Jacob's neck and squeezed his shoulder where my hand was.

"I love you too, Jacob." Jacob tightened his arm around me a moment and kissed my forehead. Then his head fell to the pillow and we went back to sleep.

Jacob was still asleep when I woke up. I was surprised that I'd slept in until one in the afternoon. That wasn't like me at all. I groaned a little in protest and got myself out of bed. Jacob's arm around me was firm, but he didn't have a tight enough grip that I couldn't get out. When I was out of bed, I walked to the bathroom and went straight into the shower. I lathered my hair with shampoo for a good ten minutes. Ever since I was young, it always seemed to take forever for me to feel like my hair was really clean. Daddy thinks it might be because my sense of touch was stronger than that of normal humans. Whatever the reason, it took forever for my hair to feel clean.

When I was done with my hair, I washed my face with the face cream I had on a little shelf in the shower and rubbed thoroughly. Once again, it took forever for me to feel clean. When I had my face clean, I took a squidgy and covered it with some body wash before I started scrubbing relentlessly. I heard the bathroom door open and smiled a little at Jacob when he looked at me through the glass. He saw me scrubbing and he laughed.

"If I didn't know better, Nessie, I'd think I made you feel dirty." I smiled and nodded.

"You do." I said teasingly, and Jacob laughed. Jacob walked to the sink and shaved his face while I kept scrubbing away all the dirt.

When Jacob was finished shaving and brushed his teeth, he walked over to the shower where I was still scrubbing and stood outside looking at me. We smiled at each other a moment before I gave Jacob a teasingly rude expression. Jacob kept smiling at my expression and was holding back a laugh.

"Can I help you?" Jacob nodded.

"I was hoping I could get in. I need a shower too."

"Well, you'll just have to wait." Jacob laughed finally and shook his head at me. Then he took of his sweatpants and walked right into the shower with me. I pretended to be offended and stepped back. "Have you no manners?" Jacob rolled his eyes at me with his heartwarming smile and grabbed me into his arms.

"Shut up, Nessie." I smiled and he washed away the soap on my neck before he kissed me there. Then he ran his hands over every part of my body with water and washed away the rest of the soap. When I was clean, he kissed the back of my neck and picked me up by my waist. Then he rested me next to the door and took my spot under the torrent of water. "There, you're clean."

"Maybe I wanted to soak." Jacob and I kept smiling at each other and Jacob shrugged innocently.

"I don't mind you staying, you know." I giggled and rolled my eyes at him while walking to him.

"Gee, thanks for sharing." Jacob chuckled and nuzzled my nose when I was close enough to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed gently.

"That's how much I love you." I smiled and kissed his nose, then he kissed mine. I reached behind him for his soap and started rubbing his chest with it to get it to lather. Jacob's hands roamed while I washed him. He bent down to kiss me, but I turned my head so he only kissed my ear.

"Not right now, Jacob. You need to be cleaned." Jacob laughed and kissed my forehead while I cleaned his body.

"Since when are you such a neat freak?"

"I'm not a neat freak, Jacob. I just have very high standards for personal hygiene. That's nothing new. It's only new to you because before we were married, I couldn't take a bath with you and clean you to my standards." Jacob laughed again.

"So did you always think I was dirty?"

"Not always. Sometimes, yes, but not always. Whenever I thought you were dirty, I just told you to take a shower, remember?"

"Does this mean you're taking a bath with me every time from now on?" I looked up at Jacob and grinned at him.

"As often as I can." Jacob smiled and kissed my forehead again. He stood there patiently as I lathered the soap over his body and covered my squidgy with some of the soap and started scrubbing. I started at his neck and scrubbed. The scrubbing made him wince. "What?"

"You're scrubbing too hard." I sighed.

"Jacob, you have to scrub hard or your skin will still have dirt on it. Soft skin comes from persistent scrubbing."

"I'm a man, Nessie. We don't do soft skin."

"It's either soft and clean or slimy and dirty. I chose soft and clean. Now stop complaining and take it like a man." Jacob chuckled and nodded his head.

"Yes dear." I smiled back at him and kept scrubbing. When I was done with his neck, I moved on to his chest, then to his back. Then I scrubbed his arms and his neck again. When I was done, I pulled Jacob under the torrent of water and let the water wash away the soap, rubbing along his body to help get it all off.

When he was completely clean, he brought me closer to him again and I let him kiss me this time. He took us away from the water but stayed close enough that we could still feel the heat of the water. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me up so that I was at his level and about a foot off the ground. He was already hard and I could feel him against me and it made me instantly wet. We kissed for a few minutes before Jacob pushed me against the wall and entered me.

I moaned his name when he was inside me and he took his lips away from mine and started sucking on my ear. Jacob set a moderate pace and it wasn't long before I was panting heavily. His hands went to my chest and started rubbing and pinching them. He stopped moving a moment to kiss my breasts and suck greedily. Shortly after, he started moving again and he was moving even faster. My fingers laced through his hair and held him to me tightly. Before long, Jacob was moving as fast as he could. I couldn't think and I was flying high as he kept moving inside me. Then my body collapsed upon itself and I bit his shoulder as I cried out.

Jacob groaned loudly and his hands squeezed my chest tightly as he came. He thrust twice more before he stopped moving all together and we stayed together in each other's arms just trying to catch our breath. Jacob kissed along my neck and pulled out of me before placing me back on my feet. My hands went to his chest and I rested my head on my nook. Jacob kept his arms around me in a hug and turned off the shower. When it was off, he carried me out of the shower and dried us off with the fluffy towel that was resting on a hook on the door. I smiled at him as he ran the towel through my hair.

"So are you hungry?" Jacob smiled.

"You know me so well." I giggled and kissed his neck.

"What are you in the mood for?" Jacob looked thoughtful a moment and shrugged.

"Whatever's in the fridge is fine."

"Maybe we could go to Carlisle's house. It's been a while since we've been over there. There's only so long we can stay at here before people start barging in." Jacob chuckled and shrugged.

"I guess. I'm sure they would have the common decency to knock before coming in, but hey, what would I know." I rolled my eyes at him and reached up to give him a kiss.

"Just get dressed and get ready to go."

Jacob grinned and gave me a quick kiss before walking out of the bathroom and into the closet. I followed after him and we both got dressed really quickly. When we were dressed, we got into the car and drove to my old house. We stayed there for the rest of the day and talked to everyone. While we were there, we talked about college and what I would need to bring with me. My roommate's parents were buying a new rug for the dorm, so that was one less thing to worry about. And she was bringing a mini-fridge too. I didn't really need one, but I could easily keep sauerkraut and cappers for me to snack on, so that was something good.

During the last few weeks before I had to leave, I tried talking to my new roommate as often as I could. I thought it would be good to get to know her a little more before we actually had to move in together. I let her know that I was married and that Jacob would be visiting as often as he could manage. She got the gist of what I was saying and assured me that she'd be more than happy to stay with another friend whenever Jacob was over so we could have some privacy.

From talking to her, I learned that she's one of those types that really likes a good party and was always willing to try new things. She had a boyfriend that went to our school and was a psychology major. She was studying to go into the pharmacy profession. She wasn't surprised to find that I didn't have a major at first. She was surprised that I'd managed to test of my gen ed classes and could easily go right into my major. That was when she was surprised I didn't know what I wanted to major in. As it was, I was set up for mostly science courses. I really liked science, so I was hoping to start there and find something that I might like. Who knows, maybe Carlisle will get his wish and I'll be a doctor after all. Though I really doubted it.

I've considered maybe being an entrepreneur and just going into risky business ventures that weren't so risky because I had Alice around to tell me what ventures would fail or fly. But daddy just gave me his stern look telling me not to do that, even though he knew I was sort of joking. One night, I jokingly told Jacob that maybe I should start my own company where no one knows what we do and have miserable people working in cubicles all day. Jacob laughed, but also suggested against it, reminding me what happened in _Office Space_. Another night, I was making dinner for Jacob before he had to go out on patrol. He was standing with me in the kitchen and helping me with random things, like cutting the onions. I hated cutting onions. The smell was so overpowering and no matter how weak the onion, it always made me teary eyed.

"Jacob." He looked up at me from the onion while I was stirring the pasta around. I was smiling at him and he smiled in response.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we should open a casino. It'll make your grandparents proud." Jacob laughed and shook his head.

"No way, Nessie. A casino means my grandma will have a reason to visit. Billy and I won't be too happy with that."

"It's his mother, he can't hate her too much."

"It's not that Billy hates grandma, he just doesn't appreciate the way she treats him. She treats him like he's still a little kid and he doesn't like that."

"He's her son. Of course she'll treat him like her little boy."

"Nessie, my father's over fifty. He doesn't want to be treated like a ten year old. And she treats me the same way. For god's sake, Nessie, the last time I saw the woman, I was fourteen and she was still baby talking me." I laughed and rolled my eyes. The pasta was doing fine for now, so I walked over to Jacob and hugged and kissed him.

"Does Jackie Wackie like chopping the wittle onion punion poo?" Jacob laughed and stopped chopping the onion.

"Stop it, Nessie." I brought my hand to his face and started petting him.

"What's the matter, Jackie Wackie. Does Jackie Wackie want a nap?"

"Stop it, Nessie." I smiled more and brought my hand from his face to the bottom hem of his shirt and played with that.

"Aw, looks like somebody's really cranky. Maybe he should take a nap after all." Jacob turned to me with a smiled still on his face.

"Damn it, Nessie, stop it." We were both laughing and Jacob bent down to take me in his arms and kissed me. It was a lovely kiss at first, but then one of Jacob's hands started to caress my face and the onion smell made me gag. Jacob laughed as I pulled away and covered my nose.

"Jacob!" He kept smiling.

"You're the one who made Jackie Wackie cranky." I couldn't help but smile and roll my eyes again.

"Stop talking in third person. It's weird."

"Yes, mommy." We laughed together again and Jacob finished chopping the onion while I pulled the pasta out of the water.

Though we spent plenty of time with family, Jacob and I tried to have as much time together as we could. He would even come home from patrol early sometimes so we could have a morning alone. On August 20th, it was the night before we were leaving for Northwestern. With daddy's erratic driving leading us and his mindreading to prevent getting pulled over, we could be in Chicago within a day. They all got hotel rooms, but purely for Ryan and Valerie's sake. Everyone was curious and wanted to see the campus and there was no one available to watch them, so they were coming with.

Jacob would just stay at the dorm with me. I already checked with Samantha and let her know that Jacob would be there. She told me it was cool. Evidently, she lived in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago already, so she wouldn't be there until the 23rd. The night before I had to leave, Jacob and I spent the night completely inseparable. I lost count of how many times we made love, but it was enough that I was exhausted by the end of it. We didn't stop until it was around two in the morning. I rested my head on my nook with Jacob under me and he ran his hands along my body lovingly. I clutched onto him never wanting to let go.

"Will you miss me, Jacob?" Jacob smiled and kissed me.

"I already do. It won't be the same without you. I'll be a wreck, you know that?" I smiled halfheartedly and kissed his chest.

"Me too. I don't know how I'll ever concentrate on school with you so far away." Then I looked up to his face with my chin resting on his chest. "Promise you'll visit as often as possible?" Jacob nodded.

"Whenever I can get away. I'm allowed in your dorm overnight on the weekends, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah. Weekends are the visiting days, so people are allowed to stay at the dorm as long as they're with one of the students. So you'll be fine." Jacob smiled and ran his fingers through my hair.

"Samantha knows you're married, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, she knows. I've sent her a picture of you, so she knows what you look like. So when she sees you, she knows to spend the night with a friend or boyfriend."

"That's good to know. So will I have to sleep on the floor? There's no way that dorm bed is big enough for me." I smiled.

"Probably. But I'll be on the floor with you. And the downstairs neighbors will just have to put up with us." Jacob laughed and hugged me tighter.

"I like how that sounds."

"And if they think a slut lives above them, who cares." Jacob laughed and nodded.

"Yeah. Who cares." Jacob and I smiled at each other a moment before Jacob brought his lips to mine again and pushed me onto my back gently. I spoke through his lips with my hands doing the opposite of what I was saying.

"Jacob, we have to get up early tomorrow. We should really go to bed."

"We can sleep on the way back."

"You're driving, Jacob."

"That's the beauty of coffee, Nessie." I giggled and he kissed along my jaw until he got to my ear.

"But you'll still be groggy. I don't want you to be groggy." Jacob only smiled and his right hand went down between my legs and I didn't have the will to fight anymore, though I didn't have much will to do so to begin with.

As I warned, we paid for it in the morning. Of course, Alice guessed we would oversleep, so she called us at the time we needed to wake up and told us to get ready to go. My luggage was already in Jacob's car and daddy's Volvo. Alice and Jasper were driving my car to Illinois while Emmett and Rosalie were taking the jeep with Valerie and Ryan. Carlisle and Esme were taking the black car that Carlisle had with tinted windows. Jacob and I were groggy the whole time we were getting dressed. We took a shower together and made love one more time before we had to keep getting ready. We were both really tired after that, but neither of us cared. It was worth it.

When everything was done that we needed to do, Jacob and I got into the car and drove to the house to follow after daddy's car and the rest of the people that were coming. The drive to Illinois was really long. I had to pinch Jacob a couple times to wake him up. He nearly fell asleep at the wheel five times the whole way to Illinois. We arrived at Northwestern at last at eleven at night, so everyone that was there were already asleep. Everyone went straight to their hotels while Jacob and I went to my dorm. We didn't even look around much before we both plopped onto the mattress and fell asleep.

The next morning, we woke up early to the sound of lots of people outside my room doing something. Jacob groaned when the noise woke him up, but only turned so he was facing the wall and tried to ignore it. I tried not to laugh when I noticed that Jacob had to be scrunched into a ball to fit even remotely on my bed. The only reason I could still fit was because I'd been on top of him.

"Jacob." He groaned in protest.

"What?"

"We should get up. We still need to move all my stuff up here." He groaned again and turned onto his back. Then I took my spot back on his chest.

"Can't that wait until later?" I shook my head.

"We need to get my stuff up here. And daddy wants to look around the campus after we're done."

"Nessie, I'm sure he's already looked at the campus while we were sleeping. Hell, I'll bet you nine to nothin' he's gone here before." I shook my head.

"No he hasn't. He went to Yale once, but that was it."

"Why does he keep going back to high school if he's gone to Yale?"

"Because the younger they start out, the longer they can stay in a new place. You should know that." Jacob groaned and I could tell he was rolling his eyes behind his closed lids. I ignored and kissed his chest. "If you want, you can sleep all you want when I've properly moved in." He shook his head.

"I want to see the campus too, I just don't want to start so early. What time is it anyway?"

I smiled lovingly at him and got up to look in the hallway. I knew there was a clock out there. When I stepped out, there were several other students passing through the hallway trying to get their stuff moved in our showing their family around. I couldn't fight a laugh when I saw the time. I was about to go back in to tell Jacob what time it was, but someone called to me.

"Are you Nessie Cullen?" I looked at who was talking to me. It was a guy with dark blonde hair who was just marginally taller than me and had a bright smile. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Nessie Cullen. How do you know me?"

"I'm friends with your roommate Samantha. We went to high school together. She told me about you."

"That's nice. What school did you two go to?"

"Conant. We were both Conant Cougars. Now we're both Wild Cats. How about you? What school did you go to?"

"Forks High School." He looked confused a moment, then he lost the confusion.

"Oh yeah, you're not from Illinois. That makes sense. For a second I was like, 'where the hell is that, I've never heard of a Forks, Illinois'." We laughed a little and I nodded.

"No Forks, Illinois that I know of. I just know of Forks, Washington." He shrugged.

"I'd never want to live in a small town. Give me Chicago or New York any day."

"I don't mind it so much. And Seattle's always there if I decide I want some city. And we have Port Angeles which is even closer."

"At least there's salvation from the middle of nowhere." I smiled and shrugged.

"You really hate small towns, don't you?" He nodded and his face become annoyed looking.

"My dad's side of the family lives in Bon Terre, Missouri."

"I've never heard of it."

"Exactly. 5,000 people at best. It's a Podunk town where everyone knows me as 'Hal's boy' and we're a stone throw away from Farmington, which is barely bigger. It has a strip mall, but that's about the extent of its modernization. I hate going to Missouri." I nodded awkwardly.

"I can tell. But you must like St. Louis at least."

"I've seen the arch more times than I care to. As far as I'm concerned, it's a hillbilly version that wishes it was worthy to be a city." Then, a guy across from his room came out and looked angry.

"Watch what you say, douche bag. I'm from St. Louis." The guy I'd been talking to shrugged.

"I can tell. You have a scrawny body and fake accent to attract the deer." They kept arguing after that. I had no idea what that meant, but I decided to get out of the conversation and went back into my dorm. Jacob groaned while he rubbed his face. He was sitting up on the bed at last.

"What took you so long?"

"My neighbor wanted to talk."

"And who's your neighbor?" I shrugged.

"Don't know. I didn't ask him what his name was." Jacob looked at me through his fingers, but didn't say anything about it. He just changed the subject.

"So what time is it?"

"It's noon, Jacob." His eyes widened.

"It is?" I nodded.

"Yep. And we're way behind. I can tell you right now, daddy and the others were waiting outside for us to wake up."

"Then why haven't they.." Then my cell phone rang and I just smiled, fighting a laugh. Jacob just sighed and stood up. We were both still wearing our clothes from the day before, so we didn't need to worry about being indecent. "I hate your dad sometimes."

"I know. He hates you sometimes too." Jacob just smiled and walked over to kiss me.

"I'm sure he does." After the kiss, I ran to my phone and answered it. As I figured, it was daddy.

"Hey, daddy. Are you and momma outside?"

"_Yeah. We were waiting for you two to wake up. Carlisle and Esme are here too. Everyone else went to look around the campus. Ryan loves all the seagulls surrounding the campus. He wants to shoot them."_ I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Imagine if I'd decided to go to Augustana. He'd have a field day with all the squirrels that live there." Daddy laughed a little.

"_I'm sure. I shudder to think what would happen if that boy ever got his hands on a gun. But come down and let us up. We have a lot of stuff to bring upstairs."_

"Okay, I'll be down in a second." Then I hung up my phone. I went to my backpack that I brought up and took out my charger and set that all up. Then I pulled out my school ID that was sent to me and the key to my dorm.

Once I had everything, Jacob and I walked out of my room and down the hallway and stairs until we got to the front door where momma, daddy, Carlisle, and Esme were already waiting with armloads of stuff. Esme was holding my computer and comforter while Carlisle was holding a few extra containers that were blue and green and daddy and momma were holding my suitcases of clothes. I took my clothes while Jacob took my comforter and computer, giving Esme and daddy a chance to go to the car and get the rest of my things. Once we had everything from the car, I scanned my ID to get us back into the dorm and unlocked my dorm when we got there.

"His name is Jared by the way, honey." I looked at daddy while he put my stuff down and started helping me unpack.

"Who?"

"That guy you were talking to who went to Conant. His name is Jared."

"Oh. Cool. What about the guy he was arguing with?"

"His name was Nathan. And it turns out they both know someone from Bon Terre so they stopped fighting and made fun of them." I laughed a little.

"That's strange." Daddy shrugged.

"That's the beauty of small towns. There's always that one person that everyone hates and makes fun of. Look at Mrs. Stanley." I laughed a little and momma shook her head.

"I feel bad for Hailey. He seems like he's such a sweet child and she's probably going to turn him into a snob. I'm just glad Ryan and Valerie will probably never go to school with him."

"You never know, love." Momma laughed.

"I would know if Alice's gift worked with Ryan and Valerie." Daddy laughed and nodded his head in agreement.

"I suppose you would at some point, love." Momma and daddy smiled at each other again while they unpacked and hung up my clothes. Carlisle and Jacob were helping me set up my computer and getting the faster internet system while Esme made up my bed. We bought all new sheets for college. They were purple with polka dots. Normally, polka dots annoyed me, but it the comforter, they were nice.

When my computer was set up and ready and my mp3 player was hooked up, I got out all my wedding things that were staying here with me, like my music box that hold my photo album and the Champaign glass that had Jacob's name on it. I kept the key in a safe spot in one of my drawers that Carlisle got me for extra space. We were finished in no time and when we were done, it really felt like a cozy room. I would still be really homesick, but it was better than what I expected it to be. And the room was really spacious for me and another person. I was relieved that the closet was a decent size. All my shoes had to be under my bed, but my clothes were still okay.

"You could open up your own store with all the shoes you have, you know that?" I smiled and patted Jacob's back.

"And I love every one of them. Thanks for helping me with this."

"Sure thing. Why wouldn't I help out?" I smiled and Jacob and I hugged tightly. Then there was a knock on the door. I walked over to the door with everyone standing behind me looking for who it was. Daddy already knew, but he didn't say anything. When I opened the door, it was Jared from earlier.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself. How's moving in coming along?"

"Great. We just finished." His eyes widened a little.

"You did? Hell, I started this morning and I'm still not done."

"I guess you have more stuff that me."

"Clearly." Then he looked into my room and saw everyone else. "Are these your relatives?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I turned to point at daddy then went down the line and they waved when I said their name. "That's my uncle Edward, that's my Aunt Bella, that's Carlisle, Esme, and that is my husband, Jacob." I felt a blush when I said the last part. He was wide eyed again.

"You're married?" I nodded. "That's pretty fast. What building does he live in?"

"Jacob doesn't go here. He's just here to help me get settled in."

"Oh. Wow, you two will be a long way away from each other a lot."

"I know. But he's visiting whenever he can, so don't be surprised if you see him in the hallways more often than you'd expect."

"Sure thing. Samantha never mentioned you were married."

"She didn't did she?" He shook his head. "Maybe it slipped her mind. So why is she waiting until the last minute to move in?" Jared shrugged.

"Hell if I know. She's a procrastinator through and through. She's the type of girl that'll be up four a.m. before the final paper's due trying to get it done. She's done that before."

"I'm sure she has." He nodded.

"One time during our junior year, we had an English paper that was due and she totally forgot all about it and when the teacher asked for it, she burst into tears making up all this crap about her grandpa dying and her never getting a chance to work on the paper." I gave him a weird look.

"And that worked?" he shook his head with a laugh.

"Fuck no, she failed the course and had to take it again over the summer. The only reason she got into college was because she has money coming out of her ass." I smiled awkwardly, knowing daddy already didn't like Jared because of his choice of words. Daddy never approved of swearing and very rarely ever did it himself, so whenever other people did it, it bothered him immensely.

"Well that's never good." He shrugged.

"What can you do? It's Samantha. And she's obsessed with House and The Sopranos, so be ready. She has the box set of all the seasons to both shows and everything." I smiled.

"I like House. The Sopranos feels like too much of a rip off of The Godfather, but House I can do."

"I know right? Don Corleone was the best. No one can beat him."

"Yep." Then I felt arms wrap around me and a head rest on top of mine. I smiled a little and held Jacob's arms.

"So you're the neighbor?" Jared nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Jared the neighbor. And you're Nessie's husband?" Jacob nodded.

"Yep, that's me."

"When did you two get married?"

"July 14th."

"Wow, so you like just got married?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, we like did." I smiled to myself and fought a laugh at Jacob's subtle teasing. Jared caught the joke and laughed a little and looked slightly embarrassed.

"Wait till you meet Samantha. She says like in just about every sentence." I rolled my eyes.

"Believe me, I know." We both shared a laugh and Jared spoke next.

"You learn to live with it. Hell, you get so used to it that you start doing it yourself, you know?" Jacob rested his head on my shoulder and spoke in my ear.

"Don't ever pick that up, Nessie. I won't be able to tolerate it for long." I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"If I were to start talking like that, Jacob, you'll tolerate it and you'll like it. You know that as well as I do." Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"I guess I would." Then Jared laughed a little and shook his head.

"I see she's got you wiped." Jacob grinned.

"Like the family pig and I'm damn proud of it." I smiled and kissed Jacob's cheek and Jared shrugged.

"To his, his own, I guess. It was nice talking to you, Nessie. Talk to you later." I nodded and waved goodbye as he walked to his dorm.

"By, Jared." He waved back, then walked back into his dorm room. I turned and looked at everyone else. "So do we want to see the campus now?" They smiled and nodded their heads. "Good. Let's see if we can find the others." Daddy spoke next.

"Rosalie, Emmett, Ryan, and Valerie are at the bay. Alice and Jasper are looking around the library." I smiled. Thankfully, it was an overcast day. That was the only way anyone could sight see.

"Good to know. Let's walk around and meet them back at my dorm then."

I got my ID and keys and we walked out of the Elder House to look for everyone else. When we caught up to Rosalie, she was sitting on a bench under a tree with her legs and arms crossed with her face in her hand shaking her head. Valerie was sitting next to her on her best behavior. I looked towards the bay and I laughed when I saw what Rosalie was so embarrassed about. Emmett and Ryan had invited themselves to a little Frat party where they guys were mattress surfing in the water with someone's motorboat. Jacob was laughing more than me and Rosalie, I imagine, looked towards the bay with a hateful glare.

"Shut up, mutt, it isn't funny." Jacob fought to contain his laugh so he could answer.

"Yes it is." Then without giving Rosalie a chance to say anything, Jacob ran to the bay and joined.

While Jacob ran to the bay, I ran after him to catch up to him. Jacob got there before me and snatched a turn from a frat boy that I could tell was too drunk out of his mind to care. Emmett, Ryan, and Jacob had their fun at the bay at lots of the frat boys loved them, especially Emmett. But eventually, Rosalie had enough and get Ryan and Emmett to get out of the water and stop mattress surfing. Ryan was wining trying to get Rosalie to reconsider, but Emmett carried him away from the bay and told him to stop while he was ahead. I waited for Jacob to be done with his first round of surfing before I made him stop so we could look for Alice and Jasper.

Ryan, Emmett, and Jacob were soaked for hours after that. I glared at Jacob for a while, but he knew I wasn't really mad at him. He just smiled and kissed me and begged for my forgiveness while we held hands. We found Jasper and Alice in the library watching a girl doing stand up in the library café for a club event. We all decided to join them in watching the act while Esme and Carlisle walked around the library for a while. At the end of the day, excluding momma, daddy, and Jacob, everyone drove back home.

We went out for dinner for Jacob's benefit later that night. The rest of us ordered something, but we put pieces in our napkins or put a little on Jacob's plate to look like we were actually eating it. When I put some of my chicken on Jacob's plate after several other things going on his plate, he looked at me with a critical, but loving look on his face.

"I know I've told you this before, but you're going to make me fat." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, you were eating like this long before I came alone. If you aren't fat by now, nothing will make you fat." Momma and daddy laughed while Jacob and I kind of argued.

"Not now, but what if my metabolism goes down the drain when I get older?"

"Jacob, you'll be a wolf the rest of your life. I doubt weight gain is something you need to worry about. As long as you never eat when your drunk." Momma looked up at us while daddy pretended to eat his stake.

"What?" Jacob chuckled and looked at momma.

"During my bachelor party, I got really drunk, and suddenly Taco bell tasted amazing."

"I thought you hated Taco Bell."

"I do when I'm sober. But if I've had a few shots of tequila, it's suddenly amazing five star quality food."

"It's dog food. I figured that out when I was little and never ate it again."

"Well, Bella, that was you and your family. My gamily were poor and ate the cheapest things we could, even if that meant dog food from Taco Bell. Or more often, craft macaroni with peas and ketchup." Jacob finally had daddy's attention too and momma's and they were both looking at him like he was nuts. I did to.

"Jacob, I've never tasted that stuff and even I know that's wrong." Jacob nodded.

"Exactly, Edward, you've never tasted it, so you don't know what you're talking about. My mom used to make that for us all and we always loved it. And we'd get Oreos and milk after dinner all the time."

"You know what I used to get Jacob?" Jacob smiled.

"Whatever you're going to say is going to make me feel bad, isn't it?" Daddy nodded.

"I would get cabbage soup all the time because cabbages were cheap. And if we were lucky, my father sometimes brought home slightly uncontaminated food from the factory to add to the cabbage soup." Jacob scrunched his nose.

"Spare me the guilt trip, Edward. I've already read The Jungle." Daddy chuckled.

"Good. I'm sure you can understand my contempt for the people that made me eat rat infested meat."

"Yes, Edward, I can. I had to write a paper about it." Daddy chuckled again and forked Jacob a piece of stake. I shook my head at the conversation.

"I didn't like The Jungle. It was so depressing. The main character losses his whole family and becomes a communist." Daddy nodded.

"That's what happened with a lot of us. A lot of immigrants got fed up with the way the government treated them and they decided that communism was a good solution. Especially in Jurgis' case. The man lost everything he held dear because of America's cruelty to him and his wife, Ona. Hell, it was the government's carelessness with public health that got my family sick in the first place. And that book was what made the government take a stand on the poor quality and treatment of the meat and workers." Momma smiled and took daddy's hand in hers.

"Thank God for Upton Sinclair." Daddy nodded and we changed the subject to something less depressing for the rest of dinner.

When dinner was finished, Jacob and I went back to my dorm while momma and daddy went off to do whatever. When we got back to the dorm, there were a lot of people sitting downstairs watching a movie. I remember Samantha telling me that every weekend, every house would have a double feature in the large living room. We came at the beginning of Gladiator. One the projector, it listed Gladiator as being the first movie, then Beauty and the Beast after that. I looked at Jacob and saw him smiling.

"Have you ever watched Gladiator, Nessie?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so."

"Let's watch it, then." I smiled and nodded my head.

We took a spot on a large couch near the back of the makeshift theatre. There wasn't much room on the couch, so I sat on Jacob's lap through the whole movie. Jacob ran his fingers through my hair and his other hand was in both of mine, our fingers intertwining repeatedly. Since it was a really small space, Jacob and I didn't talk about the movie like we normally do. Jacob took some popcorn that was being passed around in a large bowl and kept it going down the line. During the ending credits of Gladiator, I looked at Jacob.

"Do you want to watch the next movie?" Jacob shook his head.

"I'd rather not." I smiled.

"Off to bed, then?" Jacob grinned and nodded.

"I'm open to that." I grinned right back and stood from his lap and let him get to his feet. Then we walked upstairs to my dorm room. Jacob closed the door behind us and was smiling at me the whole time. He walked over to me and took me into a hug and lifted me up to his level.

We didn't say anything before Jacob brought his lips to mine in a searing kiss. Our tongues went past the other's lips and maneuvered through each other. While my arms stayed wrapped around Jacob's neck, Jacob's hands went down my body to my butt and over my thighs, pulling my legs up so they wrapped around his waist. Then his hands went back to my butt and squeezed it affectionately. Jacob's tongue brushed along the roof of my mouth while mine attempted to do the same.

Jacob moved to my bed and rested on top of me when I back touched the bed. I stopped the kiss to move more comfortably onto the bed. Jacob followed after me and took my lips again when he was on top of me. I lifted my knees so they were cradling his hips and he rested his hands on either side of my face. I brought my hands to his face and held him gently and securely to me. He grinded his hips into mine so I could better feel his erection and it made me moan into his mouth. I felt him smile triumphantly and I smiled too.

His left hand stayed by my face while his right hand explored, starting with my hair. Then his hand moved down to my neck, my shoulders, then finally my breast. Jacob took his lips from mine and kissed along my jaw until he reached my ear. Then he sucked on my ear and moved the tip of his tongue along the inside. I moved my hands to his hair and held him there.

When Jacob was finished with my ear, he kissed my neck. He sucked on the skin just below my ear until there would've been a mark. Then he kept kissing down my neck until he reached my collarbone where he sucked on my skin some more. Jacob put all his weight onto his knees to free both his hands. Those hands went to the hem of my shirt and pulled it up and over my head and threw it off to the side. Then his hands went to my bra and found the hook. He undid it and threw it in the same direction as my shirt when it was off. When I was bare in front of him, his hands went to my breasts again and caressed them lovingly. He kissed between my breasts and sucked on the skin there.

Then he finally moved his hand and brought his mouth where I wanted him to. He took my nipple in his mouth and sucked and bit gently and greedily. I moaned his name and lifted my hips up to meet his. The friction made him moan too. When he was done with my right breast, he kissed until he reached my left and did the same thing as he did to my right. One of his hands moved down until it reached the button of my jeans, which he unbuttoned and unzipped. I pulled my jeans off my hips and Jacob pulled them the rest of the way off, leaving me in just my panties.

He grabbed a hold of my panties and pulled on them until I lifted my hips so he could get them off. I kicked them the rest of the way and his hand went right for its destination. He delved his fingers inside me while his thumb played with my nub and I felt tears form behind my eyes. He kissed my ribcage and every other part he could kiss until he was where his hand was and took over what his thumb had been doing. I breathed in a sharp breath and dug my nails into his scalp.

His fingers moved masterfully and his tongue was just as wonderful. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and all coherent thought left my mind as I moaned his name. Jacob smiled against me and increased the movements of his hands and tongue in response, which made me whimper with need. For a moment, I'd forgotten that we had neighbors that might hear, so I bite onto my lip to keep myself quiet. But when I did, Jacob's fingers slammed into me really hard and it made me squeak.

"Don't do that, Nessie. Let me hear how it feels."

Then he continued what he'd been doing, but made sure his fingers were moving just as harshly as they had before. I avoided any type of screaming as much as possible. Instead, I moaned his name like I knew he liked and it made him smile again, just how I like. Before long, the building pressure in my core was becoming far too much for me to handle anymore. I moaned his name more often when I started getting even closer to that blissful explosion. But, Jacob being cruel as he is, took his hand and mouth away when I was just about to cum. I looked at him with pleading eyes and he just smiled.

"Why'd you stop?" Jacob smiled wider and kissed along my midriff as he answered me.

"I would've missed the look you get on your face when you cum. I don't like missing that." I whined a little more and Jacob just chuckled and kept kissing my body until he got to my neck.

I decided to be mean too and pushed him onto his back when he was completely above me. When he was, I pushed him onto his back and straddled his stomach. He smiled and his hands went to my hips and tried to push me down to him. But I wouldn't let him. He looked at me confused a moment before I give him a quick kiss. Then I distributed those same feathery soft kisses along his neck and collarbone. Then I reached down and pulled his shirt up over his head and threw it in the same direction as my things had gone, then I bent my head down and returned to kissing him.

I kissed every place on him that I could, being sure to suck his skin at the more sensitive parts of his body, like his collarbone and just above his bellybutton. His fingers threaded through my hair as I kept going further down. I hadn't attempted this since our wedding night because I was nervous to. But since he was leaving tomorrow and it would be a while before we saw each other again, I wanted to make the most of our time together.

When I reached the top of his pants, I unbuckled his belt and undid his pants and pulled them down along with his boxers, freeing him to my sight. I never tired of looking at him. To me, he was the most handsome man in the world and just looking at him always excited me. Jacob kicked his pants and boxers off and tried to pull me back up, but I wouldn't let him to that. I didn't push his hand away, I simply fought it and brought my head down where I wanted to go.

"Nessie."

"Sit back and enjoy it, Jacob." I already knew he was going to tell me I didn't have to. I wouldn't take that for an answer. If he sincerely didn't like it, that would be another matter, but I knew that wasn't the case.

Jacob didn't argue with me any further. He just rested his head on my pillow with both his hands behind his head and let himself feel what I would do. The site was sort of funny, but I didn't let myself giggle at it. Now was no time for laughing at anything. I took a deep breath and went right to it. I started out slow and just licked along repeatedly. Jacob groaned with the first touch and did so again a few other times. Then I went to the tip of his shaft and just sucked on that a bit, getting the same reaction from him. His left hand grabbed a firm, but gentle hold of my head and simply held on, not moving me in any particular direction, even though I'm sure he wanted to.

I licked the tip once more before taking a deep breath and taking him all the way in. He breathed in a sharp breath and I breathed through my nose as best I could, avoiding letting my gag reflex kick in. I sucked as hard as I could and I felt his body shake, but thankfully, he didn't cum just yet. I felt a little in the back of my throat, but it wasn't the end of it. Without releasing the pressure, I pulled my mouth up his shaft. He groaned a little louder this time and his grip on my scalp tightened even more, but it didn't hurt. I kissed the tip before taking my mouth away completely and returning to licking along his shaft teasingly.

"I told you I could do it." Jacob chuckled a little through his thick haze.

"I never doubted you, baby." I smiled triumphantly at the nickname and took him back into my mouth, bobbing my head up and down while my right hand stayed at the base and rubbed while the other touched the fullness below.

As I continued a pattern, Jacob's moaned my name over and over again, just as I'd done for him when he did this for me. It was satisfying and empowering in a way. It was like being in control and I really enjoyed that. I tightened my grip during my pattern and it all seemed to drive him crazy, and that made me happy to know I could do this for him like he did for me. And just as he did to me, I stopped right when he started feeling the end come. Instead of complaining, he grabbed both my arms and pulled me to him so he could kiss me.

When our lips joined, he entered me in one thrust and went to it. He didn't bother with a slow pace this time. He just started moving and never stopped. I was moaning into his mouth, almost screaming at some points. Jacob sat up and kept a firm hold on me as he continued to move swiftly and I wrapped my arms around his neck and moved with him at the pace he'd set for us.

I felt whole in Jacob's arms and the sense of completion was creeping up my spine. I was already shaking and I wasn't yet at the climax. Jacob moved impossibly faster when he felt my reaction and I took my lips away and bit into his neck, needing it. Jacob was groaning as he moved and I felt his chest vibrate like he was growling. One of his hands went down to massage my nub and my head spun more than it had before.

When I couldn't handle any more, my body imploded and I felt the glorious crash all over my body from head to toe. I whimpered and held back a scream and moaned all at the same time while Jacob shook violently and went very still, falling onto his back. His grip on me didn't loosen for a long time while we breathed heavily and basked in each other. When I had enough strength in my neck, I brought my lips back to his and kissed him. Then I looked into his eyes with the most loving look I could muster.

"I love you, Jacob. I'm going to miss you so much." Jacob smiled.

"I love you too Nessie. I don't know what I'll do without you. I'll be here as often as possible, I promise."

"You better. Now that I've had our love life, I'm not sure I want to have to wait until holidays to have it." Jacob chuckled and kissed me.

"It'll be more frequent than that" We looked at each other for a minute, just looking. We were trying to take each other in all we could. We looked at each other for so long, that we ended up smashing our lips back together and making love all over again.

The night was filled with it, just as it had been the night before we came to Illinois. I didn't count how many times, I only know it was a lot. But it wasn't enough. I didn't let him go to sleep until well in the early morning. Then when it was morning, daddy called, letting us know that it was time to go. Jacob had to force himself away from me as we made out while trying to get dressed. When we were finally dressed, we walked downstairs together hand in hand to the parking lot where momma and daddy were.

I hugged momma and daddy goodbye and they wished me luck and promised to call and check on me all the time. Momma told me to have just enough fun and not to get into any trouble and to do my best before kissing my forehead. Then she and daddy gave me and Jacob a few more minutes to say goodbye.

"Good luck, Nessie. Show everyone how much smarter you are than them." I giggled and hugged him tighter while giving his chest and affectionate kiss.

"I will, Jacob. Call me every day and tell me how you're doing. And don't be afraid to let daddy and momma cook for you. And don't get into any trouble while I'm gone." Jacob smiled and hugged me tighter in return.

"Right back at you, kid." I giggled and looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I miss you, Jacob. And I love you." He nodded, giving me the same sad look.

"I miss you too, Nessie. And I love you. Always remember that. And whenever things get tough, just call me and feel free to vent. I'm here for you." I smiled.

"I know." We smiled sadly at each other a moment before we kissed again. It was a fast kiss, but it held as much passion as was possible. I sucked on his tongue for an instant before he pulled away and kissed my nose. Then he let go of me and walked backwards to his car.

"Give 'em hell, baby." I nodded and felt myself start to cry.

"I will, love." Jacob smiled at the pet name and kept smiling while he got into his car. Then I stepped back so they could all drive off. They all waved goodbye to me and Jacob smiled and waved, but it was a little sad. I did the same.

When they were gone, I went back up to my dorm, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I had no idea how I would handle being away from him, even if we had waited to get married. I felt so empty and lonely and it made me feel sick and insane. When I got to my room, the first thing I did was pull out the wedding album and look through it. My favorite picture was one that Heidi took. It was a picture of mine and Jacob's first kiss as husband and wife. The angle and light of the photo was flawless and looked like it belonged in a magazine.

I spent hours looking at the photo album and smiling at all the pictures. A few made me cry because they were so sentimental, like the picture of me and Jacob cutting our wedding cake. I ended up falling asleep with the photo album in my arms and feeling really sad. Then my phone rang late in the night and I answered it eagerly, knowing it was Jacob.

"Jacob?"

"_Hey, Nessie. We just got back. How're you doing?"_

"How do you think. I miss you."

"_I know. I miss you too. But talking over the phone is better than nothing."_ I nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

"_So has that roommate of yours shown up yet?"_

"No, not yet. She'll probably show up tomorrow. It'll be nice to have someone in the room to talk to. It's kind of boring all alone."

"_I bet. It's awful without you in this house. It's so empty." _I was about to answer, but my eyes started welling up again. _"Baby, don't cry. It's not like we'll never see each other again."_

"I know. But I miss you so much. I hate not having you here."

"_Me too. But hey, just remember that I'll visit all the time, even when it's not a holiday. It'll be as if I was never gone."_ I sniffed back a tear.

"You mean it?"

"_Yeah, I mean it. And don't let any frat boys or drunk college guys near you. And if something happens, just say the word and heads will roll."_ I giggled through my tears.

"You've got it, Jacob. And you do the same." Jacob chuckled too.

"_I will, Nessie."_

We talked for hours after that, well into the early morning. It wasn't the same as having him here, but it was as good as I could have for the time being. We even had a dirty conversation while we were talking. It was nowhere near as satisfying, but it would do for now. Then around three in the morning, I could tell Jacob was getting tired.

"You go to bed, okay Jacob? I don't want you getting deprived of sleep."

"_I don't need to sleep."_ I giggled at his stubbornness.

"Yes you do, Jacob. Call me tomorrow when you've gotten some sleep okay."

"_Alright, I'll call you tomorrow. I love you, Renesmee."_

"I love you too, Jacob. Tell everyone I said hi."

"_I will."_ We said I love you one more time before we reluctantly hung up. I was tired, but I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I kept wishing Jacob was there holding me. I never realized how much I'd come to rely on him for sleep. I did eventually fall asleep. But it was without a doubt the worst sleep of my life.


	24. Without Her

Without Her

**JPOV**

I was going insane. We'd just gotten back and I was already losing my mind. I'd hoped calling Nessie would make me feel better. It did for a while, but as soon as we hung up, I was going mad again. The house was too empty without her. I laid in bed trying to fall asleep, but I couldn't even close my eyes for longer than a blink. I ended up lying in bed until sunrise never falling asleep at all. When I saw the sun, I groaned and got out of bed to take a shower.

And figures, while I was taking a shower, I started thinking about Nessie at college. Fact was, it was college and college meant she was sharing a dorm with other students, some being guys. I should've gotten her one of those obnoxious diamond rings that were eight karats or something. There's no way anyone would miss that. But I couldn't pretend that Nessie's ring would make sure none of them ever hit on her. If anything, they'd be more likely because it was a challenge. The more I thought about it, the angrier I started getting.

By the time I was done with my shower, I was furious. I breathed deeply to calm my nerves and tried to remember that Nessie could take care of herself and that any asshole that liked her wouldn't have a chance, but it still made me mad to think about it. And I knew it was stupid that I was letting it bother me so much, but I couldn't help it.

I'm ashamed of myself for it, but I actually contemplated telling her to fuck college, come home, and just be a house wife. She'd already said she wouldn't mind doing that. But I fought the urge to tell her that or to even think it. I meant it when I said I'd never let her skip out on any opportunity in life just for me. She deserved the best and I wouldn't let my loneliness take that away from her.

With nothing better to do, I didn't bother getting dressed and walked out the French doors in our room and jumped out, fazing as I did so. It was early morning, so I didn't think anyone would still be out. But as it turns out, Quil and Seth were still on patrol. When I fazed and they could hear my thoughts, Seth sort of laughed, but still felt bad for me.

_You know, Jacob, they say that jealousy is the sincerest form of mistrust._ I rolled my eyes at him.

_Did you just make that up or is that really what they say? I'm entitled to miss my wife and be worried about frat boys hitting on her._

_I didn't say you weren't. I know how you feel. You forget I'm in college too. My last year, mind you._ Seth grinned widely as he said that. His last year of college meant that he and Alyssa would get married soon and he was thrilled to death about it. Quil groaned.

_I can't believe Claire starts third grade this year. Where does the time go?_ As Quil spoke, Seth suddenly remembered something that Edward told him about and the thought that came to him made me groan in annoyance.

_You know there's an anniversary thing happening in Forks soon, right? The hospital Carlisle used to work at is having an anniversary party for a doctor that works there. Edward told us we should consider going since they'd be there._

_I don't know, Seth. I'm not in the mood to be out in public. I'll just be depressed the whole time._

_We know, Jacob. But you should go anyway. If nothing else, go because it's a place to get some halfway decent food. We all know you can't cook worth shit._ I growled at Seth while Quil laughed a little. Seth was smiling too. _And Leah's coming. You guys haven't seen each other in a while._

_I guess we haven't. How's the old broad doing anyway?_ Seth chuckled at my joke.

_She's doing great. Everything at work's going well. But she's been having a lot of trouble controlling her wolf lately. And she said she's been feeling an odd pull coming from home._ My eyes widened then and so did Quil's. Quil had a silly grin when he spoke.

_Do you think her imprintee is close? She deserves to have someone._

_I don't know. She doesn't really know much about it other than that she feels an odd pull. It's driving her crazy and her wolf keeps coming at inconvenient times. She said that one time a few weeks ago, she had to run out of a meeting and go to the roof so no one would see her faze._

_How did she get to the roof in time?_

_I don't know, Quil, I just know she did. She wouldn't have a job right now if she didn't. And she actually fazed inside her apartment one time._ I groaned. This was going to be a bad week, I could already tell.

_How long has this been going on? Did she say?_ Seth thought a moment before answering.

_I think it was around the time of Nessie's graduation. That's the best timeline I've got._

_Has anyone moved to Forks or the Res in the past few months that we know of?_ I shook my head.

_I don't think so, Quil. We had a bunch of vampires, but they've all left. And if she imprinted on anyone of them, she would've felt the pull a long time ago, so I don't think it's any of them._

_Ask Charlie about it, Jacob. If someone moved to Forks, he'd know._ Then Quil made a suggestion.

_Maybe she's imprinted on a newborn baby. I imprinted on Claire and you imprinted on Nessie when she was only under a minute old. It's possible._ I laughed a little without humor.

_Don't mention that to her. Leah would have a bitch fit if we even eluded to that possibility. If that's the case, let her figure it out herself and save our asses from her rage._ Seth mentally nodded in agreement.

_I'm with Jacob on that. We keep that thought hush, hush around Leah. So if we're wrong, no harm done, if we're right, we weren't the ones that told her about it. Either way, we win._ Quil shrugged.

_If you say so. She's your sister, you know her best._ Then Quil changed the subject._ I'm home. I'll talk to you guys later. I'm making breakfast for Claire to get her ready for her first day of school, so I need to take a shower first._

_Alright, Quil. You have fun with that. When did you guys say that anniversary party thing was going to be?_ Seth answered.

_I didn't, but Edward told me it was this Friday. I'd call him and double check, though._

_Thanks, Seth. I'll think about going. Unless they tell me they want me to go, in which I won't have any other choice. Esme would get disappointed and I'd rather not do that to her. She's too nice to be disappointed. _They both nodded in agreement and fazed back when they got home, leaving me alone again.

I didn't run for much longer after that. I needed to go to work today for the first time all summer. I had to remember to thank my boss for letting me have so much time off just for my wedding. And I needed to talk to him about maybe getting every other Friday off so I could visit Nessie for the weekend. I've been toying with the idea of even going every week, but that seemed like a bit much. Though I knew I could easily get to Chicago in half the time if I ran instead of drove. As I said, it was a thought in progress. But she probably needed the first week to adjust, so this weekend wasn't a good time.

As soon as I was home, I got dressed and got ran to my car to drive to Seattle. I got there about five minutes late, but the boss wasn't in yet, so that wasn't a problem. When I parked and looked into the garage, I saw a car that's right side was completely ruined. I groaned knowing it was a stubborn customer and I had my work cut out for me. When I walked in, Amanda was sitting at the check in desk and she lit up when she saw me. I didn't think anything of it.

"Hey, Jacob. I haven't seen you in a while. Where've you been?"

"Vacation. Craig let me have the whole summer off." Amanda pouted and fluttered her eyes. I think she was trying to be cute, but I ignored it like I normally did.

"Lucky. I only got two weeks off. So what did you do all summer? I'm sad that you didn't come and visit me." I smiled.

"I was busy all summer, planning a wedding and all." She smiled more.

"Ooh, someone got married? That's exciting. Who got married." I raised an eyebrow at her, not sure if she was just dense or stubborn.

"I did." When it finally clicked, she looked surprised.

"You got married over the summer?" I nodded. "To who? Why didn't you invite any of us?"

"Do you remember that girl that comes here sometimes, Nessie?" She wasn't giving any indication that she knew what I was talking about. "She wanted to keep it among just family. That's why I didn't invite anyone from the shop."

"Oh. That's a shame." Her face, as she spoke, went back to its former enthusiasm. "So where did you guys go for your honeymoon?"

"San Diego." She seemed surprised.

"Why not Europe or somewhere exotic?"

"Because I didn't want to go to Europe. I like San Diego and was perfectly happy with that. So was Nessie."

"I've always wanted to go to Italy for my honeymoon. Like Rome or Florence. That would be the best vacation ever." Sure, as long as you didn't run into one of the several vampires that live in Italy. I'm convinced that vampires are attracted to culture. If nothing else, they're attracted to big cities with lots of people that no one would miss.

"Maybe one day, Nessie and I will go to Italy, but we didn't this time."

"So when was the wedding?"

"July 12th."

"I see. And what does this happy bride do for a living if you don't mine my asking?"

"She's in college."

"That's exciting. What's her major? She goes to the university near here right?" I shook my head.

"She goes to Northwestern and she has no idea what she wants to do." Amanda looked confused.

"Isn't Northwestern in Missouri or something?"

"Illinois actually." I wouldn't lie that I noticed her smile was a little too…….I wasn't sure what the word was that I was looking for.

"What a shame. So does that mean you don't get to see her often now?"

"Not as often as I'd like, but we're going to try and see each other every weekend."

"How? That's a good three day drive and I can't imagine you'd be able to buy a ticket to Illinois every week."

"I'm a fast driver. I manage to get there in a day." Less if I run.

"Wow. That's some fast driving." I nodded and signed in before walking to the garage. "Hey Jacob." I had the door partially opened and looked at her over my shoulder.

"Yeah?" She was batting her eyes again and biting her bottom lip between words.

"What are you doing tonight? Me and my friends are going out to the Catwalk bar."

"I'm staying home. Thanks for inviting me though." Then I walked into the garage and terminated that conversation.

As soon as I got in, Andy said hi and asked me just about the same thing Amanda did. He was stunned to learn that Nessie and I had gotten married. I showed him my new ring so he'd believe me and showed him a photo I had in my wallet of me and Nessie together. It was behind the picture of her and I at her senior prom. I loved looking at that picture. I loved how she was flaunting her ring in it and that glow she had when they took the picture. But I loved our wedding pictures more. I loved that in those pictures, she looked happier than I'd ever seen her.

All the guys in the garage congratulated me on my recent marriage and some patted me on the back saying that I had a catch and too keep a close eye on her. I didn't tell the rest of them that she was away at college right now. I wanted to bask in the fact that Nessie and I were finally married and not ruin it with details.

By the end of the day, we still weren't finished with the car with the worst amount of damage. But I was sure we'd finish it in two or three days. I signed out for the day and went to my car and drove to Sam's house. He'd told me to come over for dinner today so I would have a halfway decent dinner. When I got there, Quil was with them already and he looked really upset about something. I was surprised that Sam seemed to find this funny. I walked over to Quil and took a seat on the couch next to him.

"What's wrong, Quil? You look upset." I heard Sam laugh again, but I ignored him. Quil sighed in discontent.

"Claire started the Recorder in school. She's been playing that haunting song for hours now and I don't know if I can tolerate it for too much longer." Then, I finally understood why Sam was laughing and I couldn't help but laugh myself.

"Oh Quil, I'm so sorry. But I'm not going to lie, I'm so glad I'm not you right now." Then Quil looked at me evilly.

"You're coming to the concert at the end of the year just so you know. If we have to suffer, so do you." I shook my head.

"No way, Quil. That song still gives me nightmares. I'll shoot myself if I have to listen to a Recorder concert."

"I'm that one that sees her every day and listens to her practice. How do you think I feel? I love the girl to death, but she's lacking in musical talent. She keeps getting the notes wrong and she refuses to hold it properly." I chuckled.

"When did you become such an expert about the recorder?"

"I read the manual." We all started laughing together at Quil's misfortune, except for Quil of course. Even Mikey was laughing, though I doubt he knew why we were laughing in the first place. Then Mikey stood up and walked over to me.

"Jacob. You play trucks with me." I smiled and Emily barged in.

"What do you say when you want someone to do something Mikey?" I smiled at me.

"Pwease?" I chuckled and nodded.

"Sure. I'll play trucks with you."

Mikey cheered and ran over to his pile of toy trucks and handed me a dirt truck and took the bigger jeep truck for himself. Then Mikey and I bumped trucks together until dinner was ready. Quil joined too, but he got stuck with Katie's pink Barbie convertible. When Emily was finished making dinner, we all sat together and started eating. I wasn't really talking much at first, then I started daydreaming and wasn't talking at all.

I immediately started thinking about Nessie. Emily's food was good, but Nessie's was better. A husband's bias I guess. She always put in the right things and made it just right and the moderation of Harry Clearwater's fish fry was heaven on earth to me. That among other things she does. I wasn't sure how long I was out, but I came back to reality when I heard Sam talking.

"Jacob, are you okay?" I came back and looked at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Because you're eating the fork." Mikey and Katie started laughing while I took the fork out of my mouth and looked at it. I hadn't even realized I was chewing on it, but it was crushed and deformed from me chewing on it.

"Oh. I'm sorry about that."

"Mind telling us what's with the sudden liking of eating utensils?" Quil asked with a smile. I think they already knew what was wrong. I sighed before answering.

"I just started thinking about Nessie is all." Sam smiled sympathetically.

"I don't envy you. I'd be a wreck if Emily was away." Emily smiled and he smiled back at her and they shared a quick kiss while Mikey and Katie told them they were being gross.

"That's what's happening with me. I'll start thinking about her and I get depressed because I know I won't see her when I get home." Quil offered a word of encouragement.

"You can still call her. I know it's not the same, but that's better than nothing, right?" I nodded.

"I know, but it's still not the same." Emily spoke after cleaning off Katie's mouth with her napkin.

"Aren't you planning to visit her every weekend?"

"I want to. But I don't know if this weekend is a good one. She might need that time to get to know Samantha a little more. But I'll definitely go next weekend." I looked at Quil. "While you guys are on patrol on Friday, I'll run to Illinois and I'll be in tune to you guys the whole way there. And I'll faze every night to see how you're all doing." Quil shook his head.

"Don't bother. You and Nessie have fun. I speak for the pack when I say we don't want to hear you thinking about Nessie in the back of your mind. We all know what you'd be thinking about." Me and Sam laughed at Quil's statement and I shrugged.

"Fine. I trust you guys to take care of yourselves if something happens. Don't you and Seth disappoint me." Quil laughed and rolled his eyes.

"We won't oh great one." We laughed together again and I spent the rest of dinner trying my best not to eat the silver wear.

At the end of the day when I got home, I practically sprinted to my house phone. I'd already looked at my cell phone and there weren't any messages there. The kitchen was the closest phone when I got in, so I went to the kitchen and looked at my messages. I had a message from Billy about reminding me that I needed to drop him off at the bank tomorrow and another one from Bella asking me to come to the house after work tomorrow so I could mow their lawn. I couldn't fight I laugh. I knew Bella would think of something to make me do, though I'm sure she got the idea from Edward or something.

Then I finally found a message from Nessie. She sounded a little sad and she asked me to call her as soon as I got home. So that's what I did. I pressed redial on my phone and waited for Nessie to answer her phone. I could feel myself shine when I heard her voice.

"_Jacob?"_

"Hey, Nessie. How are you doing?"

"_I miss you, but other than that, I guess I'm fine. I finally met Samantha today." _

"That's good news. What's she like?" Nessie hesitated before answering, trying to find the words for her.

"_She's really……eccentric."_ Then Nessie mumbled something to someone else in the room. I assume it was Samantha that she was mumbling to. _ "She wants to say hi to you. Are you okay with that?"_

"I'll say hi, but nothing too long." I heard her giggle and am pretty sure she nodded before handing her phone to Samantha.

"_Jacob?"_

"Yeah, that's me."

"_Nessie's told me all about you. And she let me see your wedding pictures. Congrats on getting married over the summer by the way." _

"Thanks for that."

"_And don't you worry. Nessie will be fine in my hands. So when should I expect you to come over so I can plan ahead?"_

"I was thinking next weekend. And I thought you and Nessie might take the weekend to get to know each other a little better. But I'm definitely coming next weekend."

"_Alright, sounds like a plan. I have a friend that lives in this dorm that has an extra bed in her room. She was supposed to have a roommate, but something happened and she couldn't come to Northwestern. I think she got knocked up or something. But anyway, you get what I'm saying."_

"Thanks a lot for that, Samantha. I really appreciate."

"_Think nothing of it. You probably want Nessie back on the phone, right?" _

"That would be nice, yes. And thanks for the private time."

"_You're welcome. I'll talk to you again when you get here."_

"I look forward to it." Then I heard movement and the phone being handed to Nessie. "She seems nice."

"_She is. She's just a bit over the top sometimes. You'll see what I mean when you meet her."_

"I can't wait." We both laughed together before Nessie got to another matter.

"_So you aren't coming this weekend?"_

"I promised I would go to this anniversary thing at Carlisle's old hospital. I can leave that early and come visit you, though."

"_No, don't worry about it. The friend Samantha's talking about won't be here over the weekend and her boyfriend has three roommates, so he doesn't have room. Next weekend, we'll be able to have the room to ourselves."_

"Alright, Nessie. So what did you guys do today? Classes start tomorrow, right?"

"_Yeah. Samantha and I walked around campus and did stuff. There was a welcoming fair in the quad for all the new students with games and music. But the DJ really liked Britney Spears. I heard 3 so many times, I know the song by heart now." _I scrunched my nose.

"I'm not sure a song about three ways is something that should be played at college. It might encourage the behavior." Nessie giggled and I'm sure she nodded.

"_Or four on the floor. That's worse." _

"What?"

"_Four on the floor. It's a verse in the song."_ I smiled and laughed a little when I got what she was saying.

"Oh. Your really have heard the song a little too much today."

"_Yeah, I have."_

"I never listened to her, you know that. I gave up on her at a young age when my sisters listened to them. Same thing with Nsync and Backstreet Boys. But I blame my sisters for that for playing that crap all the time."

"_I know. But I'll admit the song's catchy."_

"I guess. So does Samantha know about…..you know….the vampire thing?"

"_No."_

"Okay. You're not planning to tell her right."

"_Not at all. She wouldn't care enough to investigate it anyway."_

"Okay, that's good news. So what classes do you have tomorrow?"

"_I have math and English first, then I have an hour of free time before Psychology. Then I have Science and Spanish History the next day. That's the pattern. Monday and Wednesday, I have science and history, then on Tuesday and Thursday I have math, English, and psychology, then on Friday, I have just math and English."_

"Sounds grand. I thought you were taking a Spanish class."

"_That's what my Spanish History class is. I was smart enough to get into a class that's entirely in Spanish. We aren't bothering with learning new words or anything. It's just the history of Spain and her territories."_

"Sounds fun." Nessie giggled that beautiful laugh.

"_You sounds bored by it, I see."_

"I'm not a history person, Nessie. I prefer cars and science. That's what I'm good at. So do you know what you're majoring in?" Nessie sighed.

"_No, Jacob, not yet. I might just get a degree as a physical therapist and be done with it. It's a fast degree to get, it's in the medical field like Carlisle wants, it's decent pay and I make my own hours."_

"Ness, don't do something you don't want to. I mean, if you want to do that, then that's great. But if not, then don't do it just to make me happy. You hear me?"

"_Alright, I hear you. But I don't know what I want to do. Nothing really strikes me."_

"Are you sure nothing grabs your interest? Have you looked at all the programs the school offers?"

"_Of course I have. That's all I did when I was grounded from seeing you after that little stunt you pulled at the baby shower, remember."_ I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"Vaguely."

"_I mean, I like science, but I'm not sure what I'd take."_

"What science class are you taking now?"

"_Physics 135."_

"That sounds hard."

"_It will be. Everything you thought was common sense goes out the window. But the formulas are easy, though. All I have to do it memorize those and I'll be golden."_ I couldn't fight the grin on my face.

"I'm so glad I never took Physics. From what Seth told me, it sounds like a pain in the ass."

"_It can be. You have to really love it, especially if you want to become a Physics teacher. But that's not something I want to do. I've seen a Physics class in high school and I have no patience for that."_ I laughed out loud.

"You don't have the patience for anything." I heard Nessie smile a little.

"_I'm sure there's something. Don't worry, I'll find something to do. Hell, maybe I'll get into Biochemistry. I'll make drugs for a living."_ I laughed at Nessie's sarcastic tone.

"You'd be Andy's best friend." Nessie and I laughed together.

"_That wasn't the plan, but hey, it's a bonus."_

"Is there anything else that seems interesting? How about Marine Biology? You like fish, right?" Nessie giggled again.

"_Maybe. I'd be close enough to the ocean to be one."_

"There you go. It's a job you could have close to home, and it's something that's fun to do when you really like animals."

"_I'm not sure I want to study them. I just like looking at them at the Aquarium." _I sighed.

"You keep shooting down every career choice, Nessie. At this rate, you'll be in college all your life. College is fun at first, but after six or eight years, it'll start to drive you insane."

"_That's why I'm not becoming a doctor. I don't want to be in school for about ten years."_

"That's all well and good, Nessie. But not choosing a major is the same thing. You'll be in school for a long time." She sighed.

"_I know, Jacob. Believe me, I know."_

"What's Samantha's major? Maybe you'd like that."

"_I know I wouldn't. She wants to become an accountant." _

"Eww." Nessie giggled.

"_My point exactly."_

"Okay, that's out."

"_Can we stop talking about my major, or lack thereof? How was your day? You went back to work, right?"_

"Yeah, I did. There was a car in the shop that's right side was completely ruined. The scratch was huge. It was like a huge chunk of the Driver's side was scrapped off. And the owner was paying us lots of money to fix it."

"_Isn't the car totaled?"_

"By normal people standards, yes, but he's being stubborn. Evidently, it was a car he'd had since college and it held a lot of memories for him."

"_Frame a piece of the fabric of the chair or something_." I smiled at Nessie's joke.

"Sadly, that would make us lose a customer if I said that. But on the bright side, his waste of money is our gain." Nessie giggled.

"_That's one way to look at it. So which doctor is having an anniversary at the hospital?" _

"I don't know, actually. I didn't ask. I'm going because Seth was invited by Edward and Edward will probably call soon and invite me."

"_He will. There's a house on campus that's having a party that Samantha's taking me to."_

"It's not a sorority or fraternity party type thing is it?"

"_I don't know. I just know the house is having a party in their living room. They've got the biggest one on campus and someone there has access to a bunch of cool lights and a huge stereo, so we'll see."_

"Okay, baby. Just keep yourself out of trouble. Call me after that party, no matter how late it is, okay."

"_Alright, Jacob. I'll do that. And the party starts at seven, so you call me when you get home."_ I smiled and nodded my head.

"I will, Nessie. So have you made any other friends yet?"

"_Well, you've already met Jared. He's nice. And I've talked to a million people while I was at that welcoming fair in the quad, but I didn't really get their names. I just talked to a few of them. I think I'll have a better answer for you tomorrow after class."_ I laughed a little under my breath.

"Okay, Nessie. Oh, and Nessie. Don't forget to send me that Pizza." Nessie giggled and I could feel her rolling her eyes.

"_Alright, alright, I'll send you the damn pizza. What do you want on it? Sausage, pepperoni, extra cheese, and mushrooms?"_ I grinned and nodded.

"You know what I like, honey."

"_I know I do. I'll even send you hotdogs, Chicago's famous popcorn that I've heard so much about, and a heart clogging cheese burger from Portillo's. Just for you."_ I could feel my mouth watering and I nodded as I groaned.

"That's it, Nessie, talk dirty to me." Nessie started laughing and I just smiled and laughed a little. When she had control of her laughter, she took a deep breath.

"_I love you."_

"I love you too, Nessie. Since you're sending me all that food, I'll try to send you flowers."

"_That sounds wonderful, Jacob. I can't wait. You know what kind of flowers I like. By the way, how's Aida doing? Have you talked to her at all? I didn't get a chance to really hang out with her before I left." _

"No, I haven't talk to her. She might be at that anniversary thing, though. Her dad works at the Forks hospital, right?"

"_Yeah, at least that's what she told me. I tried calling her earlier today, but her phone was busy."_

"You can always try again later."

"_That's true. I'll try after school. But tell her I said hi when you see her at the anniversary thing. And don't let her tease you. The last thing she nicknamed you was awful."_ I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Oh god, what was it?"

"_I'm not saying. It was really mean."_

"Oh, come one, Nessie. How much worse could it be than the things she's already called me?" Nessie hesitated a moment before she sighed and finally answered me.

"_It was during my bachelorette party. The missing strippers came up in the conversation and Aida told me I was lucky because with you, I had a lifelong ass-toy."_ I heard Samantha laugh in the background and Nessie swatted her, telling her to shut up. I was just standing there wide eyed. I wasn't sure if I should think it was funny or if I should be mad.

"She called me an ass-toy?"

"_I told you it was bad. But I yelled at her for it, so it's not so bad. And she'd sneaked a few drinks, so she was a little out of it anyway. I'm sure she didn't mean it."_

"She called me an ass-toy?! An ass-toy is a gay manwhore. How am I a gay manwhore?!"

"_She meant that I could boss you around and tell you to do whatever I wanted. She was calling you my lapdog, but it came out as ass-toy."_

"Where does she get off calling me an ass-toy?"

"_I told you it was bad. That's why I didn't want to tell you. You can yell at her about it at the hospital, but for now, can we drop it?"_ I was silent a moment before I sighed and reluctantly changed the subject.

"So aside from the party you had today and the one this Friday, what other big plans do you have?"

"_Nothing much. Samantha and I might go shopping together during the week. I need tank tops. It's scolding hot right now. I feel like I'm being cooked and our air conditioners a piece of crap."_ I chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Nessie. At least you'll be okay during the winter."

"_From what Samantha tells me, I'm not so sure. Lake Michigan makes Chicago pretty cold in the winter."_

"Don't worry, you'll be home for the worst of it, right?"

"_No. The worst of Chicago's winters are during January. December's bad and is complained about all the time, but then January comes along and everybody wishes it was December again because it wasn't that bad."_ I smiled.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Nessie. At least Bella and Edward gave you a master card so you can buy more blankets if you need it."

"_I might just use it to buy a half way decent air conditioner. I'm serious, Jacob, I'm sweating here." _

"You'd think it would be cooler there, seeing as it's called the windy city."

"_You'd think. But evidently, Windy City is sort of a duo meaning. It gets windy, but it's also a city of talkative people or something. And did you know that, outside of Poland, Chicago has the largest number of Polish people?"_

"I did not know that. I always thought they had a lot of Italians."

"_They do. Chicago has everyone, but Polish immigrants are the most common. Samantha's actually full blooded Polish."_

"That's nice. And you're Polish too, so you fit right in. And don't you speak Polish?" Nessie laughed lightly.

"_Yeah, I do. And I'm only a third Polish. If I remember correctly, I'm a third Polish, a third English, I know I have Irish in me, and I want to say grandma had some Italian in her."_ I nodded.

"I think so. But I don't remember. I just know I'm red through and through."

"_I know. That makes it easy when you're only one thing. I just find it hard to believe that you're the only Quileute to marry a white woman."_ I laughed and nodded.

"It's true. There's been plenty of relationships between the two and even kids, but we're the first to get married. And our kids will be the first wolves that aren't full blooded Quileute and part vampire. We'll just be a family of firsts."

"_It's exciting isn't it?"_ I smiled at the thought, then glanced at the time.

"It's almost midnight here. What time is it in Chicago?" Nessie was silent while she looked at a clock.

"_Oh wow, it's two o'clock."_ I laughed and sighed.

"I guess I better let you go, then. You need to get some sleep."

"_It's alright. I don't have classes until eleven tomorrow anyway and they're all back to back."_ I shook my head.

"Get some sleep Nessie so you're ready for school tomorrow." Nessie sighed.

"_Alright, Jacob. I'll talk to you tomorrow."_

"Alright. I love you, baby. Sweet dreams."

"_I love you too."_

I smiled and told her good night one more time before I hung up the phone. This time difference wouldn't help me. I'll keep forgetting about it, I'm sure and our conversations will keep getting cut short because she's two hours ahead. I sighed to myself and went upstairs to get ready for bed. I took a long, boiling hold shower and cleaned myself aimlessly. I actually started scrubbing really hard because it reminded me of how she did it and because being so clean made it feel like Nessie was closer.

Like the night before, I didn't get much sleep that night. I stayed in bed laying awake thinking about her and trying to picture her laying next to me so I could get some decent sleep. I woke up to my alarm clock and it scared me half to death. Over the summer after Nessie and I got married, even before, I had the luxury of Nessie kissing me awake. But without that, I had to resort to an annoying alarm clock that gave me a heart attack every time I heard it go off.

I slammed my hand on the alarm clock to turn it off and groaned while trying to force myself out of bed. I took a shower and got dressed within ten minutes and was downstairs eating breakfast in two. For the first time since I'd started working there, I got to work an hour early and was the first one there. Amanda wasn't even there yet. I ended up sitting in my car for a half hour waiting for Craig to come and open up the shop. He was surprised to see me when I got out of my car and walked to the door and waited for him to unlock it.

"What the hell are you doing here so early?" I shrugged.

"I woke up early." Truth be told, when Nessie was around, my morning usually took longer because she was there to talk to me and wish me a good day. Without that, my morning went by in an instant.

"Why do you look so depressed."

"I'm just tired sir." Craig sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, just don't act like this in front of costumers. The last thing I need are people getting the wrong idea about this place because you're having a bad morning. And if this has anything to do with your wife, I'm not the person to talk to about it."

"We didn't have a fight if that's what you're thinking, Craig." He held up his free hand as he opened the door.

"Jacob, it's none of my business. Just do your job with a big smile for the day and I'll be happy." I sighed and followed into the shop after him and signed myself in before going into the garage and getting to work.

Amanda was the second one to work and she was surprised to see me too. When she signed in and turned on the computer, she came out to the garage to talk to me. I could hear her heels clicking against the floor and I laughed at myself when I was able to identify what kind of shoes they were judging by the sound. Stiletto heels that were about three or four inches and they were sandals. I laughed to myself even more when I looked at her shoes and realized I was right. Nessie taught me well.

"Hey Jacky. What are you doing here so early?"

I woke up early. I didn't get that great of sleep last night."

"Well, that's a shame. We have time before anyone else gets here. Do you want to go with me to get some coffee?" I shook my head.

"No thanks. I hate coffee."

"That's okay. We can go to the 7-11 and get you an energy drink." I shook my head.

"No thanks, Amanda. I'll just keep working. That'll wake me up soon enough." She started pouting.

"Are you sure?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"If you insist. Will you at least let me treat you to lunch?" I was about to say no, but then I remembered that I forgot to bring lunch today. I groaned to myself for it. It was Nessie's left over fish fry too.

"I guess, but you're not treating me." Then she grinned wider than I think she ever had.

"Awesome. We have the same lunch break anyway. Where are you in the mood for?"

"It's too early to know right now."

"You're right. We can decide when it's actually time for lunch. Can't wait Jacky." Then she started hopping, seemingly, away and out of the garage and seemed giddy when she got to my desk.

I groaned again in annoyance. What the hell did I just get myself into? The woman's practically thrown herself at me for six years and I just agreed to go out to lunch with her. I couldn't believe she'd even been working here that long.

"Hey." I looked up and saw Andy walking over to me with his usual out of it look. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I couldn't sleep. What are you doing here so early?"

"I never went to bed last night. But shouldn't a lack of sleep be a good thing for you? You just got married." I shook my head.

"She's at college right now, so she's away. It's hard for me to sleep when she's away."

"Wow. Talk about devotion. Why didn't you tell us this yesterday when you told us?"

"Because when you guys were congratulating me, it kind of made me feel like she was home waiting for me and I felt better. And I have that rude awakening every time I go home and try to go to sleep."

"That's love, dude. It's not healthy to be that attached to someone, you know." I shrugged.

"I'm happy to have someone that I love that much and she loves me in return. I can tolerate her being away at college for a few short years when we've got our whole life ahead of us."

"Wow. That's deep, man. I wish I was high, I'd appreciate it more." I laughed to myself and looked at him confused.

"I thought you already were." He shook his head.

"No, man. I ran out last night. I need to get some after work today."

"Have you ever been caught with that stuff?" Andy grinned proudly and shook his head.

"Not once." I laughed again and rolled my eyes.

"You're unbelievable, Andy."

"That's what your mother said last night." I gave Andy a mean look and he kept smiling.

"My mom's dead." Then he lost his smile and rolled his eyes.

"Well, Jacob, that info would've been greatly appreciated before I told you the joke and made myself look like a complete asshole."

"I have told you that. On many an occasion I might add."

"Jacob, I'm high most of the time. I can't be expected to remember these things." I looked at him a moment before rolling my eyes at him and getting back to work on the totaled car. "So why is Amanda staring at you with gaga eyes? More than usual, I mean." I sighed.

"I did something really stupid." Then Andy's eyes widened.

"Jesus, Jacob, you've been married a month and you're already cheating on your wife?!" My eyes widened in response and I stood as I shook my head.

"No! She asked me to go to lunch with her, and I realized I forgot my lunch so, without thinking, I agreed to go with her and now I've given her the wrong impression and I'm already pissed about it without you stating the obvious thing that's wrong with it." Andy shrugged.

"Well, she's not that bad if it comes to that."

"For god's sake, Andy, I'm not going to sleep with her. If I've ignored her for six fucking years, what makes you think I'll stop just because she came with me to get food? And seeing as you've evidently slept with her, it's all the more reason I won't. I don't want whatever you or she might have."

"It was once, okay, and it was when she first got here. It was before she met you. Once she met you, she didn't want anything to do with me anymore. She had her sights set on you."

"I don't care, nothing's happening between us. Nothing ever has and nothing ever will. I don't want her, I don't like her, and I have Nessie, who's everything I want and need and then some. So drop it." Andy held up his hands defensively.

"Alright, fine, I'm just saying. I can tell you didn't get any sleep last night and you're wife's away. You're being a total prick."

"Just help me with this damn car, Andy."

Andy sighed a little before we both got on our knees and worked on the car. Within an hour, most of the guys were at the shop and working on whatever projects they were assigned for the day. When it was lunch, we were two thirds the way done with the totaled car and I was starving by then. I cursed at myself a million times for forgetting my lunch and having to go out and get it with Amanda. I walked out of the garage and she followed after me with a smirk on her face.

"So, have you decided where you want to go for lunch? There's a nice café that's down the street from here that my friends say is really good." I shook my head.

"Let's just go to McDonalds or something. It's faster that way." I noticed her crunch her nose.

"Can we go somewhere else? I'm a vegan." I felt a chill go down my spine when she said that. I never understood why a person would torture themselves and become vegan. I mean, animals were cool and all, but I acknowledge their nutritional value and the fact that a nice rack of lamb after a hard day's work was a dream.

"You're kidding." She shook her head.

"Nope. I'm vegan. I think it's awful to eat animals. And being vegan is healthier for you anyway." I fought a laugh.

"I doubt that very seriously. You're basically starving yourself and making it that much harder for you to find proteins to add to your diet."

"Not really. Beans have a lot of protein and so does peanut butter. Soybeans have protein too. And they're really good for you. I drink a glass of soymilk with my grapefruit every morning."

"Please don't call it soymilk. It's not milk, it's just juice. And it sucks." She giggled.

"I see you're a believer in meat." I nodded.

"Always have been, always will be." I unlocked my car door and she got on the other side of my car. I gave her a weird look. "What are you doing?"

"Getting in the car. We're going to lunch aren't we?"

"I thought you were taking your own car."

"Why would we do that when we're going together?" I looked at her a moment a little stunned. I was once again kicking myself in the ass for letting grogginess get me into trouble. Finally I sighed.

"Fine." She smiled and got into the passenger's seat and we backed out and started driving. "Is there even any fast food joints that have stuff for everybody?" She shook her head.

"Not that I know of. I only know of those really expensive places and that little café I told you about. They serve the best vegan food."

"I'll pass. If I wanted to eat grass, I'd go outside." She giggled again.

"Don't be so mean. I'm sure they've got something you'll like."

"How? It's a vegan restaurant. They don't even have fish."

"You don't need meat for food to taste good, Jacky. You just need good seasonings and proper doneness." I sighed.

"Whatever you say."

Against my better judgment, went to that vegan café. The waitress sat us at a booth and I buried my face in the menu trying to find something that sounded good. But nothing did. It was all vegetables. Nessie already had to practically force feed me vegetables. They didn't even have soda. It was just water a bunch of herbal crap. I fought a groan of annoyance.

"Did you find anything that you might like?"

"I'm not a vegetable person, that's all I can say. I'll just get something at the drive-through on our way back."

"Don't be silly. At least try something."

"No, really, I'll just wait." She sighed.

"You're one of those people that has to be force fed vegetables aren't you?" I nodded.

"Always have been. My mom used to make me eat peas with my macaroni and cheese. And I'd put ketchup on my macaroni and cheese saying I was getting more vegetables that way." She scrunched her nose.

"That sounds gross." I shrugged.

"It got me to eat my vegetables, so mom didn't argue. But vegans don't eat cheese, so they can't even do that for me." Then she giggled.

"Okay. But at least try one of the herbal teas. They're really good for you." I sighed.

"Grass is grass, Amanda. Besides, I've lived off greasy meat all my life. If I changed to a healthy life style, I'd probably be dead in a week. Besides, Nessie already lectures me about eating healthier. I'll take it from her, but that's it."

That's when the waitress came over and asked us what we'd like to drink. It took them a while to ask us something like that, so I was only turned off by this place even more. That was another thing that bugged me about environmentalists in general. Not all of them of course, but so many of them believed they were superior because of their lifestyle and their non-meat diet and their Prius cars and their go green PETA crap. No one had the right to act like they were better than everyone because of their lifestyle, at least not to me.

"I'll have green tea. Jacob?" I looked up at Amanda. "Are you sure you don't want any herbal tea?"

"Really sure. Just give me water." The waitress nodded.

"Okay, and have you both decided what you want to eat?" Amanda nodded.

"I'll have the butternut squash with spinach. And instead of lemon vinegar, could I have white wine vinegar?" The waitress nodded.

"No problem. And how about you, sir?" I shrugged.

"Just give me bread."

"We don't have bread, sir." I looked up at the waitress like she was insane.

"How do you not have bread?"

"We're a vegan restaurant, sir. Bread has eggs and we don't eat eggs." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"I won't have anything then."

"Are you sure, sir? We have a wonderful grilled eggplant." I shook my head.

"No thanks. Just water." The waitress sighed and took our menus and left to give the chefs the order. I avoided telling her that, as a waitress, it wasn't her place to lecture the customer, but that wouldn't have gone well, so I kept it to myself.

"You can try a little of mine. I'll prove to you that vegetables are good." I shook my head.

"It's okay. You're vegan, you need all the calories you can get." She giggled.

"How sweet of you to say." I gave her a weird look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You called me skinny." I didn't respond at first. I was trying to figure out how my statement was complimenting her as being skinny, but I gave up.

"You're welcome I guess." She kept smiling at me and I looked off to the side at a little advertisement for cocktails they served. Some sounded good, but I wasn't drinking during a work day.

"You know, in all the time we've worked together, I never really learned much about you." I shrugged.

"We never really talked much."

"I know. And that makes me sad. I tried to invite you to do stuff with me and my friends, but you were always busy."

"I can't help that."

"How about tonight? We can go bar hopping." I shook my head.

"I'm busy. Besides, I'm not sure my wife would appreciate it if I did that." She sighed.

"I suppose that's true. But then, she would only feel that way if you told her." I held up my hand to stop her.

"Amanda, I know where you're going with this, and I'm going to tell you to stop while you're ahead."

She lost her smile when she said that and we didn't talk for the rest of lunch. The drive back to the shop was just as awkward. When we got back, I dropped her off and walked to the 7-11 next door to get a sandwich to tide me over till the end of the day.

We managed to finish the totaled car by the end of the day after replacing more than we anticipated needed to replace and redoing the color three times because we would find something else that was wrong. In total, fixing the car would cost the man $16,000. I didn't envy him. With that money, he could've gotten a used car altogether.

I went to Billy's and dropped him off at the bank after work and Sue said she'd pick him up when she got back from work. Then I went to the house and mowed the already clean lawn like Bella wanted me to. And there was a garden in their backyard that wasn't there before that was filled with expensive flowerbeds and a small birdfeeder, birdhouse, and stones lining around the flowerbeds. I'm almost positive Bella got those just to mess with me. I just laughed it off like I knew she was hoping for and mowed the lawn. When I was done, Bella looked at everything twice and smiled when she was done.

"I'm impressed, Jacob. It's perfect." I shrugged.

"I used to mow lawns in Forks for extra money. I got really good at it."

"I can tell."

"Is there anything you want your new son-in-law to do?" Bella laughed and shook her head.

"No, I'm good. I've had my fun. And don't call me mother-in-law. You're only a year younger than me, it's creepy." I smirked.

"Yeah, it is. So what did you do all day?"

"Nothing special. Edward and I went hunting, so that was nice." I held up my hands and I heard Edward laugh.

"Spare me the gory details, Bells. I do the same for you and Edward." Bella smiled.

"Alright, I'll spare you. So what did you do today?" I shrugged.

"I worked. And I went to a vegan restaurant, believe it or not." Bella looked at me strangely.

"I'm sorry, I think I had wax in my ears. What did you say?"

"I said I went to a vegan restaurant. I forgot to bring a lunch to work, so I went with Amanda." Bella gave me a weird look.

"That girl that Nessie hates? The one that's always hitting on you?" I nodded.

"Don't remind me of all the reasons that was stupid to agree to. But I made it clear to her that I wasn't interested. At least I think I did. It doesn't really matter, she'll never get anywhere with me anyway."

"I hope not. I'll personally kill you if she does." I smiled and nodded my head.

"Only if you get to me before Nessie does." Bella and I laughed a little bit, then I went silent. "God, I miss her. It's only been two days and I'm already losing it."

"I know, Jacob. We all miss her. You can visit soon at least."

"Yeah, I guess. So did Edward already tell you that Seth convinced me to go to that anniversary party at the hospital?" Bella nodded.

"Yeah, he already told me. And he told me Leah's coming."

"That's what Seth told me. We're actually trying to guess who she's imprinted." Bella looked surprised.

"She imprinted?"

"We think so. Seth says that she's been feeling an odd pull for the past few months, but she doesn't know what's causing it. Do you know if anyone new moved to Forks?" Bella shook her head.

"Not that I know of. Did you ask Charlie?"

"Seth said he would, but I haven't gotten around to calling him. I'll ask him tonight during patrol, though."

"You do that. So what are you in the mood for? For dinner, I mean." I shrugged.

"Whatever's fine."

"Alright. Esme will start dinner. You go take a shower. The lawn mowing made you smell worse than usual." I laughed with her and rolled my eyes.

"Fine, Bella, I'll take a shower. It's better to smell like wet dog than wet dog that rolled around in grass." Bella nodded with a smile.

"That's just what I was thinking, Jacob." We laughed together while before she took the lawn mower back to the garage and I walked into the house to the shower.

When I was done with my shower, I went to the living room and watched a game with Emmett, Jasper, and Edward. The Mariners were winning by two so far. When Esme was done cooking, she called me over and I came to the kitchen. She'd made me some lamb, so I was happy. I didn't get lamb often, so it was a treat. I left an hour after I was done with my dinner. I wanted to get home and talk to Nessie for at least an hour before I had to go on patrol. When I got home and called her, Nessie answered right away.

"_Hi, Jacob. I'm so glad to hear from you."_

"Hey, Nessie. How was your day?"

"_It was fun. I like all my teachers. My English teacher's pretty bland, but he does his job. And my psych teacher is awesome. She's got real world experience and she makes learning psychology fun and easy to understand. My math teacher, he's really weird."_

"How so?" Nessie hesitated a moment, trying to think of a good way to answer my question.

"_How can I say this? When you talk to him about math, he's a genius and he can teach math really well, and that's all that matters I suppose. But when you try to talk to him about anything other than math, he turns into a spastic moron. That's the only thing I can say to describe him."_ I laughed.

"You mean you have a math teacher with ADD or something?"

"_I think it's more than that. It's kind of like we're being taught by a four year old that's really good at math."_ I laughed again.

"What's this teacher's name?"

"_Professor Del Toro. Filipe Del Toro I think is his name."_

"And with exception to math, he's a complete moron?"

"_Yeah. It's really bizarre."_

"It sounds bizarre. What are the names of your other teachers?"

"_My English teacher is Professor Kelley and my psych teacher is Dr. Barzalli. She's really cool. Then tomorrow I have science with Professor Hyde and Spanish History with Professor Frefererro."_

"Have you gotten any feedback on either?"

"_Only on Professor Frefererro. And I'm told he's really creepy. One girl told me that whenever he gets to the Spanish Inquisition unit, he starts getting really irritable and easily agitated. She says it's best to say nothing and stay on his good side when we get to the Spanish Inquisition."_

"Why would he get mad about that?"

"_No idea. But there is something else I want to tell you."_

"What's that?" Nessie didn't answer. I heard some movement in the background and waited until she finally stopped.

"_Okay, I'm alone. I didn't want to say this in front of Samantha."_

"What's wrong?" Nessie hesitated another moment before answering.

"_I think there's something off about Professor Del Toro. Not just because he's kind of empty headed, but there's something else. He wears glasses, but I saw him from the side and I swear his eyes were red."_ My eyes widened and I stiffened.

"Are you sure?"

"_Positive. I know what I saw."_

"So you're math teacher is a vampire?"

"_I think so. I don't know if I should approach him or leave it be."_

"Just leave it be, Nessie. I don't want you talking to him more than you need to. Don't even ask him for help with homework. Just go to a tutor for that. Promise me you won't confront him."

"_Alright, Jacob, I won't confront him. But what I really want to know is what kind of glasses he has. When I looked at him head on through his glasses, his eyes were brown."_

"It's clever, I'll say that much. Just try not to talk to him any more than necessary. We don't know what he's really like and I don't want to risk it being something we don't want."

"_I won't. I promise."_ I smiled.

"Thanks Nessie."

"_No problem, Jacob."_

The conversation ended too soon. But when the sun was down, I said goodbye to Nessie and told her I loved her before hanging up the phone and going out for patrol. When I shifted, the first thing I did was ask Seth what Charlie told him. Evidently, no one had moved here recently, so that was out. I wondered if maybe it was one of the vampires. It would make no sense, but I couldn't think of anyone else that she could imprint on. Goes to show how well I know anyone in Forks.

_She might not be able to come anyway._ I lost my train of thought and listened to Seth.

_Well, get her to come, Seth. Why wouldn't she want to find out who she's imprinted to?_ Seth mentally shrugged.

_I don't know. You know how she is. She's still bitter about Sam and Emily and she's still in love with Sam. I guess she doesn't want to lose that. Sort of like clinging to the past, I guess._

_Well, that's not healthy._ All the pack members out that night rolled their eyes at Quil for stating the obvious, then he growled at everyone for rolling their eyes. _Everyone's thinking it, I'm just saying it._

_We know, Quil. We're all concerned._ Then I turned my attention to Seth. _I don't care how you do it, just make her go. I don't care if you have to tie her to the roof of your car._ Seth gave me a mental grin.

_I'll do better than that. Mom will make her go._ We all laughed together. _Nothing beats the power of mom._

_That's the spirit, Seth. Get Sue involved. She'll make Leah go for sure._

Out of everyone's mom, Sue was the most stern. Even Embry's mom wasn't that strict compared to Sue. And for Leah and Seth, whatever she says goes. Even Harry was like a lap dog following orders whenever she wanted something done.

The next day went by in a blur, just like the others. I tried to keep my thoughts about Nessie under control so I'd be able to function at work. Whenever I started thinking about her, I'd get so deep in thought that I was practically dead to the world. I went straight home after work to call Nessie.

"Hey, Nessie. Are you working on homework?"

"_It can wait. I've got to tell you something about my history teacher."_

"What is it?"

"_You remember how I told you my math teacher is a vampire?"_ I stiffened again.

"You're history teacher's a vampire too?!"

"_Yeah. And he uses the same kind of glasses and Professor Del Toro."_ I groaned.

"Figures you end up in the one college where most of the teachers are vampires."

"_It's not most of them. Just Professor Del Toro and Professor Frefererro. I've seen most of the professors here and it's just them. And from what I know, they're the only two professors that aren't close friends with the other staff members. Whenever I asked another teacher about them, I always got the same response that they never talk to anyone and keep to themselves. None of them even know where they live." _I sighed.

"Just get through the class. Please just take the class and leave them be."

"_I will."_

"I can't believe Edward didn't tell us about it."

"_They weren't here when daddy and momma were. From what Professor Del Toro told us about his summer, they just got back from Argentina."_ I rolled my eyes.

"For a vampire, he's not very secretive."

"_Like I said, when you talk to him about anything other than math, it's like talking to a child."_

"Well, either way, talk to them as little as possible. Are you out of your room?"

"_No, Samantha's out with friends, so I have the dorm to myself for now. I wanted to stay home and talk to you."_ I smiled.

"You don't have to stay home just for me. Have fun with friends."

"_I won't get to see you this weekend, so I want to talk to you as much as I can. And believe me, Jacob, when I finally do get to see you, we'll have a lot of fun."_ I grinned and Nessie giggled.

"I look forward to it, Nessie. By the time I have to go back, you won't be able to walk." Nessie almost purred and I just grinned.

"_Is that a promise, Jacob?"_ I nodded.

"Would I lie to you, Baby?"

"_You've never given me reason to think you would, love."_ Nessie and I laughed a little, then we were quiet a moment. _"I really don't mind just being a house wife, Jacob."_ I sighed.

"We've been over this, Nessie. I miss you too, but don't give up on anything just for me. Pick a major and you'll have your bachelor's degree in three years and then you can come home."

"_But I don't want to wait three years to come home."_

"I know. I don't either. But we will. And it'll all be worth it in the end, I promise. When you get back home, we'll be able to start a family, and everything else we want. Just hang in there." Nessie sighed.

"_I will, Jacob. But it's so hard to be away from you. Every time I feel lonely, I have no one to look to but myself."_ I grinned, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Same here. It's not the same. And every time, I always feel depressed afterwards because it just reminds me you're so far away."

"_At least you don't have a roommate and a bathroom full of girls to worry about."_ I laughed a little with the same grin on my face and shrugged.

"She's not there now, right?" Nessie was silent for a moment. I was sure she was grinning just as much as I was.

"_But Jacob, she may come back at any time."_ I only kept smiling, hearing the seduction in her voice.

"It's seven thirty in Chicago, right?"

"_It is."_

"Why would she come home at such an early time? She's a college student that likes going out to parties, right? And last time I checked, parties always went late into the night." Nessie giggled.

"_The ones on campus usually do. Knowing that, she probably won't be home until well past midnight."_

"That gives us plenty of time, I think." I heard Nessie move onto either a chair or her bed before she sighed and started talking.

"_In that case, Jacob, I suggest you get yourself comfortable. You're in for a long, hard night."_ I smirked and ran upstairs to get comfortable like she told me.

I pictured everything she said as she said it and she did the same with what I said to her. We both lost our train for thought more times than one and would pick up from where we last remembered. And as I pictured her doing everything she said, it was easy to pretend she was still home. We kept going until Nessie got a call from Samantha, telling her she was on her way home.

"Thanks for that, Nessie. It made me feel better."

"_Any time, love. Any time. You brightened my day. I just wish we didn't have to stop."_

"I know, me too. I'll just have to remember everything you said for later." Nessie giggled again.

"_Try not to think about it too much, Jacob. I don't want you getting into trouble because you're paying more attention to me than what you're supposed to be doing."_

"Likewise, Nessie. Save me for nights when you feel lonely." We shared a breathy laugh at my comment.

"_You do the same, Jacob."_ Then I heard a door open in the background. _"Samantha's back. She says hi."_

"Tell her I say hi back. I'll talk to you later, okay, Nessie. I love you."

"_I love you too, Jacob. I'll talk to you later."_

After I hung up the phone, I looked at the time, and groaned. It was only ten. And I was nowhere near tired. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling for most of the night just thinking about Nessie.

As the week wore on, I started missing her more and more. I wasn't sure how I would go two weeks without seeing her. Without holding her and loving her. I actually started forgetting to eat. Thursday when I got home, Bella actually called me and asked me if I remembered to eat that day. I didn't realize until then that I hadn't. So I went over to the house and Esme made me some dinner. While I was eating, Carlisle reminded me what time the anniversary party at the hospital was and I promised to be there on time.

I didn't bother asking Craig about it before leaving. As long as I signed out and my work was done, I knew he wouldn't care. I went home and took a quick shower before changing into something appropriate. I proved just how lost I was without Nessie when I went about that chore. I looked through the closet and I couldn't decide what worked well together. I had to call her and have her tell me what I should wear. She finally told me to wear a white dress shirt and dark wash jeans after she was done laughing.

I ended up being the second to last person to get there. The only one later than me was Leah. I said hi to everyone once before I went straight to the stand of food and made myself a plate. I'd forgotten to eat breakfast again and lunch, so I was just now realizing I was hungry. I was a wreck. Maybe I should move to Chicago, just to ensure that I don't lose my mind. A little later, Seth and Quil took a spot at the table next to me.

"You know, Jacob, when I said you should come, I didn't mean sit around and eat plastic." I gave him a weird look at first, then took out my fork and saw the damaged plastic. I rolled my eyes at myself. Quil took it from me and threw it away.

"You didn't even realize you were doing that, did you?" I shook my head.

"No, I didn't." Quil smiled sympathetically.

"Wow. You really are a mess."

"Don't remind me. Have you seen Edward? I need to talk to him about something." Seth nodded.

"He's with Carlisle, Esme, and Bella talking to a few surgeons." Seth pointed in the direction they were in and as soon as I spotted them, Edward excused himself and Bella from the conversation and started walking over to me. "Is something wrong?" I nodded.

"I think so. I'll have to ask Edward what he thinks." Edward was standing before me in no time. He smiled and Seth and Quil before speaking.

"I'm sorry, guys. But could I speak to Jacob alone a moment?" They both nodded and Seth spoke with his usual smile.

"Sure thing, Edward." Then Seth and Quil walked back to their dates, i.e. Seth went over to his fiancé that had recently gotten a job at the hospital as a therapist and Quil went to Claire to make sure she didn't go into anything she shouldn't.

"Two teachers, huh?" I nodded.

"Yeah. She said it was her math teacher and her Spanish history teacher. They both wear these weird glasses that make their eyes look brown evidently." Edward sighed. Bella looked at us both.

"What's going on?" Edward answered her.

"Evidently, two of Nessie's teachers are vampires. They weren't there while we were visiting, otherwise, I would've noticed them." Then Edward turned his attention back to me. "Did she say anything about them being threatening?" Edward gave me a strange look right after the answer came into my head.

"No. She only said that the history teacher gets irritable or something and that the math teacher acts like a four year old."

"But he's a grown man?" I nodded.

"That's what she said. She sent me a picture of him on my phone earlier in the week to show him to me and he doesn't look out of the ordinary. Same thing with the history teacher." Bella looked concerned.

"Do they hunt the students?"

"I don't know. She told me that they rarely ever talk to the other staff members, though." Edward groaned.

"They must be a coven. It's too much of a coincidence for them to be separate. Thanks for telling her to avoid contact with them as much as possible."

"Do you think they know about her?" Edward shrugged.

"I doubt it. What happened with the Volturi and all those other things are famous, but not many vampires actually know us. They just know a coven from Washington killed the Volturi and stopped the werewolf epidemic."

"I'm surprised they don't think of you guys as the new royal family." Edward laughed without humor.

"Some probably do. That's the only thing I can think of that would explain why all hell hasn't broken loose when they were gone. I was worried that vampires would start making a point to show off their existence." Bella shrugged.

"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe our world is so used to living in seclusion that it's second nature."

"I don't know, love. All I know is that Carlisle would never want to take on that title." I brought myself back into the conversation.

"Luckily, I don't think that will become an issue. Nessie promised me she wouldn't get involved with those teachers, so as long as she does that, I don't think it's any more than an inconvenience." Edward looked at me a moment before he nodded in agreement.

"Let's hope it doesn't become any more than that. Thanks for telling me about this, Jacob."

"No problem, Edward. You would've heard it from my thought anyway." Edward chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, I would've. And Leah's here now, so go help her find this imprintee of hers." I smiled.

"Sure thing, Edward. Is she feeling the pull right now?" Edward smiled widely and nodded.

"Stronger than ever." I sighed.

"Good. She didn't imprint on one of your vampire friends." Edward shook her head.

"Don't worry. It's someone here judging by the pull she's feeling."

"Thanks, Edward." Edward patted my back before I walked away and towards the entrance. I saw Leah and we smiled at each other, me more so, and we hugged when we were close enough. "Hey, Leah. It's been a while."

"It hasn't been that long. We saw each other at the wedding."

"Yeah, but that was over a month ago." Leah shrugged.

"I guess. So, are mom and Seth here?" I nodded.

"Yeah, they're here. Alyssa is too."

"Of course she is, she works here." I laughed awkwardly. She was definitely in a mood.

"True. Have you eaten anything today? The snacks they have laid out are really good."

"Cut to the chase, Jacob. Seth told you about…the thing right?" I knew she meant that she'd imprinted and nodded.

"Yeah, he told me about it. I'm happy for you, Leah, I really am. You deserve to be happy."

"What am I even going to do when I find him? Walk up to him and say I love him? I don't even know the man I'm in love with. What if he has a family? What if he already has a girlfriend? I don't want to be a home wrecker, Jacob."

"Leah, you're not going to be a home wrecker. Let's just start with finding out who it is in the first place. Then we'll worry about what approach to take." Leah sighed and nodded her head nervously.

"Alright. We'll start with that."

"Okay, good."

With that agreement, I took a hold of Leah's wrist and pulled her with me until we got to the table of food. Seth, Quil, Embry, Paul, and Jared joined us when we took a spot. Sam and Emily stayed where they were talking to one of the pediatricians. As soon as we were all together, it was right down to business and Jared was the one to start.

"Okay, so first things first. When did you start feeling this pull?" Leah shrugged.

"It started after Nessie's graduation. I was in Forks with mom getting some food for dinner, then I suddenly felt this pull in the aisle with us. When I looked over, all I saw was an empty cart. I tried looking for it, but I couldn't find it after that."

"And you've been feeling the pull ever since?" Leah nodded at Jared.

"Ever since." I nodded.

"So we know it's someone from Forks and that they're here right now. So where is the pull feeling strongest?" Leah looked around a moment before she stayed in one general direction.

"Down that hall." Then Seth nudged her.

"Then go down there and look." Leah shook her head.

"I'll wait for him to come to me. Every time I tried following, he would slip away somehow." Paul sighed.

"Well, just standing here isn't going to do you much good either, Leah. Just because you imprinted doesn't mean they'll just fall into your arms. It doesn't always work like that."

"That's how it worked for all of you." Seth shook his head.

"Not me. I had to convince Alyssa to give me the time of day when I first tried talking to her. I mean, she gave me her number that day, but that's only because I made the best of the situation and talked only about her. It wasn't easy at first."

"And then the next day, you two were dating. Cut the crap, Seth." Seth held up his hands defensively.

"I'm only trying to help, Leah."

"I know, Seth, but you're only making me more nervous. You know what's been going through my head about this." Seth nodded.

"Yes, I do know. And don't let this opportunity to finally be happy get away. Ever since you and Sam broke up, you've been miserable, cynical, and clinically depressed. I don't want that for you anymore. None of us do. You deserve to have the same happiness that the rest of us have found."

"Even so." I shook my head.

"Leah, stop worrying about it and just go with it. That's all you can do for now." As I spoke, I felt someone poke my shoulder. I looked over and saw Aida with an apathetic look on her face. "Oh, Aida. Hey."

"Hey, Jacob. How's Nessie liking college?"

"So far so good. You'll love hearing that two of her teachers are vampires." Aida grinned and nodded approvingly.

"Bad ass. I haven't gotten to really talk to her. We've texted, but nothing more. She's always either doing homework, out at a dorm event, or talking to you. And I'm always with Zeppelin."

"So you two are still together?" She nodded.

"Oh yeah. Christ, it's been about four years now. Can you believe it?" I shook my head.

"No, actually, I can't." Then I looked over at Leah. "Now go take our advice and find your man, Leah." Leah gave me a weird look, rolled her eyes at me, then walked away like I told her to.

"What are you talking about?" I looked at Aida again.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. So how've you been?" She shrugged.

"Same ole, same ole, I guess. What about you? What's it like not having Nessie around?"

"A nightmare." Aida smiled and nodded.

"I thought so. I'm amazed you were able to pick out decent clothes on your own." I laughed and shook my head.

"I didn't. I called her and asked her what I should wear." Aida looked at me weird for several seconds before responding.

"I'm not going to pussyfoot about that, Jacob, that's fucking pathetic." I nodded.

"I know. The ass-toy doesn't need to be told." Aida laughed.

"She told you about that, huh?" I nodded.

"Yeah, she did. And I'm offended." Quil interrupted.

"Isn't an ass-toy an abused gay manwhore?" Paul answered Quil, fighting a laugh.

"Yes, Quil. It is." I ignored them and kept talking to Aida.

"Why are you always saying that sort of stuff about me? What did I ever do to you?"

"You accused me of sneaking into the Quileute graveyard with a shovel." I was silent a moment.

"I did that so the woman at the front desk would let me take out of class to talk to you. And what I had to talk to you about was really important."

"Nessie's depressed, take her to a fun Halloween party. That could've waited until a passing period. Or you could've, oh I don't know, texted me."

"I didn't have your number. And I had to get to work, I didn't have time to wait an hour for a passing period." Aida smiled and shrugged.

"I know. No hard feelings. I say that sort of stuff about everyone. It doesn't mean I dislike you at all. It's just me talking." I sighed.

"Just stop saying that kind of stuff. It's really annoying."

"Okay, point taken. I won't." Paul shook his head.

"No, don't be silly. Jacob's a big boy, he can handle hearing mean things." I glared at Paul.

"You know, Paul, I'm a hair away from punching you in the face."

"Bring it, little brother." Quil stepped between us, even though we weren't being serious, and stopped us.

"Seriously, you two. You're grown men, so act like it." Paul and I smiled and nodded our heads while Aida walked a little closer, making herself part of the group. Then Leah came back and she had a weird look on her face.

"How'd it go? Did you find him?" Leah nodded at Seth's question, but she didn't look thrilled. That alone was really off and it concerned me. "Why aren't you happy, then?" Leah gave Seth a look of death.

"Because he's two months old." We were quiet for a moment, but Aida spoke.

"What are you talking about?" I shook my head at Aida.

"Nothing." Then I looked at Leah again. "Okay, he's two months old. Just do what me and Quil did and wait. Quil's still waiting."

"That's not the point, Jacob. By the time he and I start having romantic feelings for one another, I'll almost be forty."

"You can't think about that." Quil said. Aida barged in again.

"Wait, you're getting romantically involved with a baby?" I shook my head.

"No, Aida, she's not getting romantically involved with him. She imprinted on him. That means she is what he needs her to be."

"Well, who is it?" Leah shook her head at Aida.

"I don't know. I just know it's a little baby." Then Leah looked in the direction she came and pointed at Mrs. Stanley, who was holding a baby. "The little boy with her." That's when Aida looked at Leah wide eyed.

"You mean to tell me you imprinted on my dad's love child?" Leah shot a look at Aida.

"What?"

"He's my dad's baby. He and Mrs. Stanley, still, are having an affair and Hailey was the result." Leah smiled a little when she heard his name, then looked at him again.

"His name is Hailey?"

"Yeah. And that kids a little monster. It's almost impossible to ever get him to stop crying. The only reason he's quiet now is because he's asleep." Leah ignored Aida and looked right at me.

"Now what do I do? At least if he were an adult, I could just walk up to him and start a conversation. But he's a baby and I have to deal with his mother as the middle man." Aida rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry about her, I'll get Hailey for you."

Then Aida walked away towards Mrs. Stanley to go get Hailey for Leah. Leah looked more nervous than before. Seth tried making her feel better by telling her that he was a baby, so he was probably easy to impress. When Aida came back with Hailey in hand, she gave him to Leah and Leah froze while she looked at Hailey. We all felt uplifted at that moment. I'd never seen Leah so happy, not even with Sam. She looked like a light that wasn't there before was shining in her eyes and she looked like she would dance with joy.

"Hi, Hailey. I'm Leah." When Leah started talking to Hailey, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. Then he smiled widely and reached for her face and Aida gasped.

"Holy shit, he's smiling." Leah smiled wider.

"This is his first smile?" Aida nodded.

"Yeah."

"Wow. He's smiling his first smile for me." Then Leah looked like she was fighting tears and Seth touched her back soothingly.

"Let's not tell Mrs. Stanley about that, though. She'd have a bitch fit if she knew that Hailey smiled first for anyone other than her." Leah nodded.

"Sure, whatever." Leah wasn't even paying attention to us anymore. She was just looking at Hailey with affection in her eyes. She was finally happy again.

Leah just looked at Hailey for a few minutes before Mrs. Stanley pushed passed us and tried to take Hailey back from Leah because they were leaving. The moment Hailey left Leah's arms, he started screaming. Everyone's attention went right to Hailey and I could see Jasper showing the most pain in his face from the horrible screaming. Though it might also be the sense of distress he was feeling off of Hailey.

Leah watched them walk away and she looked sad as she did so. When they were gone, Aida brought Leah back to reality and started talking her.

"You know, Leah, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley have been having a really hard time finding a baby sitter for Hailey. I can put in a good word for you so you can spend more time with Hailey."

"But, I can't watch him during the day. I work."

"I don't mean during the day. Mrs. Stanley loves going to Port Angeles a lot and Mr. Stanley usually works a lot more. And since I know about her and my dad, she's really nice to me." I interrupted.

"I thought they were under the impression that you and Coralline didn't know about all this."

"My parents are, but Mrs. Stanley knows better. I called her out about Hailey and she begged me not to tell anyone." Leah seemed to light up again.

"So you can put in a good word for me so I could spend more time with Hailey? Will it matter that they don't know me?" Aida shook her head.

"I know you, and that's good enough for old Miss Skankity slut-slut. I've got dirt on her that I can prove, so she's sort of putty in my hands." Leah smiled, though the smile was torn slightly into a freaked out grimace.

"Thank you, Aida. I really do appreciate it." Aida shook her head.

"Think nothing of it. You and Hailey will be up all night watching Sesame Street in no time."

Leah smiled wider as Aida walked away. The rest of us had to smile too. It was such a relief to see her happy for once. I couldn't remember a time when she was. When I couldn't see Aida anymore, I patted Leah's shoulder.

"It feels good, doesn't it?" She nodded.

"It does. I've never felt so at peace before." We all nodded, especially me.

"I know what you mean. Before Nessie, I was a mess. She made everything right and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I'm glad you found someone that made everything right for you."

"Me too." Seth smiled.

"You do realize this means you'll have to shift regularly again, right?" Leah gave Seth a weird look.

"What?"

"Well, like you said, Leah. By the time anything romantic happens between you two, you'll be pushing forty. You can either invest in thousands of dollars worth of anti-aging creams and good doctors, or you could be a wolf and never age."

"Seth, I don't want to be in the pack. I have a career that I'm damn proud of."

"Okay, fine. But do yourself a favor and keep yourself looking at least twenty seven. No offense, Leah, but you're starting to look thirty." Leah glared at Seth.

"I do not look thirty. And I've seen plenty of women out there that look a hell of a lot better at thirty than they did when they were in their twenties. Look at Sarah-Jessica Parker."

"Yeah, look at her. She was a hideous teenager, a decent looking twenty year old, sexy at thirty, then as she went on from there, she started looking more and more like a foot. I'd rather you didn't do that. Nothing cures wrinkles like our wolf." Leah smacked Seth's shoulder.

"Watch it, twerp. I'm only twenty seven. I've still got three years before I'm thirty." Seth nodded.

"And by the time Hailey's eighteen, you'll be forty five. I doubt very seriously Mrs. Stanley will approve of her eighteen year old son dating a woman in her forties, especially when she looks like she is."

"Stop while you're ahead, you little brat. You're not too old for me to put you in your place. Besides, it's not Mrs. Stanley I'm worried about. It's Hailey. If he loves me despite my age, good." Paul laughed.

"For god's sake, Leah, you'll be pushing fifty. Not even forty, but fifty. That's pretty damn old."

"Are you kidding? Fifty isn't old anymore. Eighty, maybe, but not fifty. And you're only a year younger than me, so don't let my age get to your head. Worry more about your own."

"We may be close, but you're still turning fifty before us." Leah sneered at Paul and walked away while we laughed. She wasn't mad, or at least she wouldn't be mad for long. She was in too good of a mood to be mad for long.

Before Aida and her parents left, she got Leah's number and assured her that she would be able to get Mrs. Stanley to let her babysit Hailey so they could get closer. I left the anniversary party feeling really happy for Leah. It made me miss Nessie even more, but that was okay. When I got home, the first thing I did was call Nessie and tell her all about what happened with Leah. She was just as happy about it as I was. We were all happy that her history with Sam could finally really be put behind us and that she didn't have to run from it anymore.

When we were done talking about Leah, we spent hours into the night talking about nothing. She told me about her day at school and how bored she was at the dorm party and how she wished I was there and I told her how much I wished I could be there with her too. We were talking well into three a.m. her time and it was never quiet between us. When she was too tired to talk anymore, I told her how much I love her and she repeated the words to me before we hung up our phones.

It still wasn't great, but I actually slept a little better that night. I was feeling really grateful for Nessie. More so than I already did on a daily bases. I only knew what I was like through the eyes of my pack members and I know that Nessie cured all that pain. I'd almost forgotten all about it. Leah had to live through that pain for nine years. Nine years of always being reminded of their love, nine years of always seeing them together and feeling that sting of lose, nine years of self loathing and asking herself what she'd done wrong. I'd only had to live through that for two years.

Although I think Leah handled it a lot better than I ever could. Despite the pain, she forced herself forward and did everything she could to fight it. I wouldn't have been able to. I would've run through the wilderness like a self loathing puppy like I did after we defeated Victoria. I'd be a wolf hermit by now if it weren't for Nessie. And I would've lived out my life that way until I finally died. I don't know how Leah managed to pull herself together enough to move on. But at least she wouldn't have to pretend to be happy for Sam and Emily anymore.

For the first time all week, I actually smiled while trying to fall asleep. Nessie may be gone right now, but I could wait. She was worth waiting for. She always had been and I would love her 'til the day I die, which I hoped would either never happen or be a good long while before I ever did. When I did finally sleep that night, I was absorbed in thoughts about Renesmee, and how lucky I was to have her and that she loved me as much as I loved her, even if I had to wait for her. For Nessie, I could wait an eternity if I needed to.

Since it was Saturday, I spent the rest of the morning after I woke up laying in bed daydreaming about Nessie. While daydreaming, I started picturing our future. I could see little kids running around in the yard that had her brown eyes and my black hair. I could see us having our fair share of arguments that were resolved with love and affection. I pictured every romantic moment we would have, like our first anniversary and Valentine's Day. I even pictured myself getting annoyed with our future son when he came home covered in mud because he was catching bugs. I laughed at the childhood memory.

Thanks to all the time we spent talking about it, I could actually think of our future son by his name. I really could see it. 'Welcome to the world, Kevin. Don't play with that, Kevin. Mind your mommy, Kevin. You're a good son, Kevin, and I'm proud of you.' I even pictured myself becoming putty in my daughter's hands. I knew that would happen, no point in arguing with it. Especially if she looked like Nessie. I was not looking forward to the day when I would have to put up with pizza faced walking testosterone that had the audacity to think they were good enough for my baby girl.

My whole life to come was flashing through my mind and I was loving every minute of it. I ended up calling Nessie so I could hear her voice and tell her all about what I'd been thinking about just now. It wasn't normal for a guy to get excited about telling his wife what's on his mind, but with Nessie, I knew she'd appreciate knowing about it. When she heard it all, we even started joking about who our kids would be most like and how we hoped our kids would have certain traits of the other. And the more we talked about it and the more I thought about it, the more excited I was for it to come.


	25. Miles Apart

**Miles Away**

**NPOV**

The weekend seemed so bland when it came. I knew Jacob wasn't coming this weekend, but I still couldn't help the disappointment I felt when I didn't get a call from him in the middle of the night asking me to let him up or something like that. I was thrilled to hear about Leah and Hailey, though I couldn't help but laugh about it. Hailey was the last person in the world that I would ever expect Leah to end up with, especially with the family problems that were bound to happen. Mr. Mathews being the real father would come out eventually. I'm not sure how, but there's no doubt it will. (*Epic foreshadowing!!!*)

Right now, it was Saturday morning and Samantha and I were together at our dorm talking as she watched The Daily Show. It was an episode making fun of a new senator that had recently come to office that I knew nothing about. The way I figured it, Jacob could vote, and that was all the opinion the government needed from our household.

"What are you planning to wear to the party tonight?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe a paper bag." Samantha giggled.

"Oh, Nessie, don't be like that. You should wear something hot. I could lend you something if you want." I shook my head.

"No thanks, Samantha. The point of the paper bag is so guys will stop checking me out and trying to hit on me."

"Just show them your ring and you'll be fine." I nodded.

"Usually, yes, but there's always that one guy that has no problem hitting on and trying to get into bed with a happily married woman."

"Remind him that he'll never be able to beat that blingage and end it at that." I laughed at her joke and sighed.

"It really is a gorgeous ring."

"Hells yeah it's a gorgeous ring. I just can't believe that he got you that on a mechanic's salary."

"Like I said, he has a lot invested in the stock market and that brings in a lot of extra money for us."

"Awesome. What's he invested in?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't think even he knows. My Aunt Alice picked an investment for him." Samantha gave me a weird face.

"She what?" I smiled and laughed to myself at the memory.

"My Aunt Alice thought it would be nice to help Jacob out and find a good investment for him so he could have lots of extra money. I mean, Jacob was never dirt poor, but he was never filthy rich either. He still isn't, but thanks to Alice's little 'stole Jacob's money and investing it' act, Jacob's up to upper middle class."

"How did she steal his money?"

"She took his bank card and social security card. She had good intentions and Jacob isn't mad about it anymore, but when he first found out about it, he was furious."

"I bet. But it worked out for the best, so it's okay, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah. He's not mad about it now. And Alice...Is really good about guessing where the stock market is and how it'll fluctuate. We don't know how she does it, but none of us have ever lost a dime with her watching the money."

"Sounds like a dream accountant." I nodded.

"And a free one." We laughed together and Samantha turned her attention back to The Daily Show.

When that was done, she went to the computer and started working on a paper that was due Monday. I've learned that, like Jared said, Samantha was a big procrastinator. It was always last minute with her. She had since the first day of school to work on this paper and she was required to take it to another English professor to have it checked out. She decided to wait until Saturday to work on it and Monday morning right when the English center opened to have it checked out and make changes. It was almost comical in a cruel way to watch her panic over getting her work done.

"Nessie read this for me, please."

"What do you want me to read it for? All I can do is tell you what grammatical and spelling errors you made."

"That's good enough. The more time I have to make the changes Monday morning, the better." I sighed.

"Why didn't you just start the Monday it was assigned?"

"Because, Nessie, I have other school work I need to do."

"You haven't had a single homework assignment besides this all week." Samantha gave me a guilty, pleading smile.

"I know, but I hate doing homework. And in hating homework so much, I wait until the last minute to do it so I have more time for fun things. Like dorm parties for example." I sighed.

"Jared's right, Samantha. You're hopeless."

"Screw Jared, that hillbilly doesn't know what he's talking about." I laughed and shook my head.

"Don't be so mean, Samantha. Give me the computer and I'll make changes." Samantha grinned and unplugged her laptop and handed it to me. I repositioned myself on my bed to lay on my stomach and read through the paper.

Her grammar was awful. I figured that much out in one sentence. While I read through her paper and made necessary changes, she played with her tarantula and watched Cops. I ignored the spider while I worked. That spider, Vickie, sent chills down my spine every time I looked at it. I've never been bitten by a tarantula and I wanted to keep it that way, so I never went near that thing. When I was finished making corrections on her paper, I pressed save and handed it back to her.

"Here you go. You're grammar and spelling errors are all fixed. How you got into a college level English class with grammar that bad I'll never understand." Samantha grinned and read through her paper.

"Sorry, Nessie, but English just isn't my thing. But thanks to you, you've probably saved me a good hour with the English professor. All that's left for them is to reword things that they don't like."

"I already took the liberty of doing that, by the way." Samantha laughed under her breath and rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for that, Nessie. Are you going to wait for a shower first or am I?"

"I'll go. I desperately need to take a shower."

"I need one more than you. You took a shower right after we got back yesterday."

"Yeah, and I need a bath again."

"How many baths do you take a day?"

"It depends. I've taken up to four a day, but that's usually when I'm on my period. In this case, I think it's because this dorm in general feels dirty so I need to take a million showers to keep myself clean."

"God, I can't even imagine how much of a neat freak you are with Joseph." I gave her a weird look.

"Who?"

"Your husband."

"His name is Jacob. And he doesn't mind it in the least when I get obsessive about him being clean." Samantha giggled.

"We take baths with our hubby I see." I shrugged.

"So? No matter how you look at it, taking a bath or shower together is just one of those nice bonding times for close relatives like spouses or parents and their kids. They do it in Japan all the time. They have family baths in bath houses everywhere you go."

"Yeah, but aren't the Japanese, I don't know, unnaturally clean?" I sighed.

"There's no such thing as being unnaturally clean. And they're just a country that set very high standards for themselves, and cleanliness is one of those things that are high on their list for the most part."

"And you're sure Jacob doesn't mind you getting all up in his face about his personal hygiene?" I smiled and nodded.

"I'm positive. I've known Jacob for a long time and I know what he likes, dislikes, and what things he can and can't tolerate. Taking a shower or bath with me is something he can definitely tolerate."

"'Cause we all know what happens when two love birds are naked together in the shower." I smiled and nodded.

"There you go. And while I'm thinking of it, could you do me a favor and look up the number to Lou Malnati's Pizza so I can send something to Jacob?" Samantha nodded.

"Sure thing, I'll take care of it. Just tell me the size, toppings, and address and I'll get it ready for you. They'll need you to go over there and pay for it, but other than that, I'll handle everything."

"Thanks, Samantha. I'll be back after my shower."

She nodded her head and went on the internet to get the number and my order while I got my stuff and went to the showers. The showers in the dorm for the girls were at the far right of the building and the one for the guys was at the far left. When I got there, the typical morning traffic had almost completely died down, so it wasn't hard to find an empty shower stall. I took my shower as fast as I could and was sure to bring a bath mat in with me. I'd seen enough girl's feet that looked like they had ringworm or athlete's foot to never want to be barefoot in the showers. Call it paranoid, I call it being cautious.

When I was done, I dried off and put on a robe before walking out of the stall and making my way back to my dorm room. People stopped me in the hallways and said hi, but those were brief conversations. It was still weird for me to walk around the dorm in nothing but a robe, but all the second year students assured me that I'd be used to it by the end of the month. When I got back to my dorm, Samantha was laying on her bed. She'd put away Vickie and had now taken out Medusa, her ball python. That thing was a huge snake, but she didn't bug me nearly as much as Vickie did.

"You want to hold Medusa?" I shrugged.

"What the hell." I changed really quickly back into my underwear and then took of my robe and put on my pajamas before coming over and taking Medusa and draping her over my shoulders. "So did you find the number for Lou's?" Samantha nodded.

"Yep. And I called them and ordered a large deep dish sausage pizza for you. All that's left is for you to drive there and pay. They're giving you until the end of the day for you to pay for it. Then they'll send it tomorrow to the address you give them when you go there and pay them."

"Thanks, Samantha. I'll go do that now."

"Why the hurry? They're open until nine tonight."

"I know, but I want to get it done now. Give me the address to the place." Samantha shrugged and looked at her computer, writing the address on a piece of paper.

"Here you go. I called the Lou's on State Street, so they're not far from here. I'd recommend just walking, though. You'll be in traffic for hours trying to get there with the Saturday rush hour."

"Thanks, Samantha. How much did they ask for?"

"$30 dollars for the pizza and for sending it."

"Okay, that's not so bad. I'll be back in an hour." I got dressed and handed back Medusa before leaving.

As Samantha suggested, I walked to Lou's. It would be faster and I could easily run the whole way, which I did. A few people thought it was strange that a college student was running around Chicago, but I wasn't running fast enough for them to think more on it. I got there in twenty minutes and was slightly out of breath when I got there. There was a guy behind the counter that looked like he was playing Nintendo DS.

"I'm here to pay for my pizza." He looked up and pressed pause on his game.

"Name?"

"Renesmee Black." The guy went on the computer on the desk and looked for my name.

"A large sausage deep dish pizza?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"And what address did you want to send this to?" I told him the address and he typed it in quickly. Then he turned the screen to me so I could make sure it was right.

"Could you make it over night shipping?"

"Already is, miss. They'll get it around this time tomorrow. Do you want to have a note on it or anything? That's free of charge." I nodded.

"Yeah. I'll go ahead and do that." He reached under the desk and handed me a piece of paper that had the Lou Malnati's logo on it and a pen. While I wrote, he took out an envelope and tape.

_Jacob,_

_ I got you Lou Malnati's like you wanted. I don't recommend sharing it okay. It'll be a while before I send you another pizza. Call me when you get the pizza. I love you, and I can't wait to see you._

_Your wife,_

_Renesmee_

I grinned a little when I wrote, your wife. When I was done with the letter, I handed it to the guy behind the desk and he placed it in the envelope and placed it in a little basket that was labeled 'letters'. In the corner, I saw the box sizes for the pizzas and found the large and groaned to myself. I knew Jacob and his bottomless pit of a stomach and he'd blow through that pizza in seconds.

"I'm sorry to be a pain, but can I double my order?" He nodded.

"Sure thing. Two large sausage deep dish pizzas instead of one. Are you taking one home or is it being sent to the same address?"

"It's being sent to the same address. I know my husband and it'll take a lot more than one pizza to keep him happy." He laughed and nodded.

"I'm the same way. I could eat Lou's pizza all day. I would if my manager would let me. But he lets me have crust whenever I want, so that's cool too." I smiled.

"Thanks a lot. How much is it with the extra pizza?" The guy went to the register and added the pizza to my order. When he was done, he looked at me.

"$63.45." I sighed.

"No one can ever say I don't love that man." He chuckled and nodded.

"So is your husband away on a business trip or something?" I shook my head.

"No, he's home. I'm the one that's away at college so we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like. He's all the way in Washington and I'm here in Chicago for the next three years."

"That blows. How long have you guys been married?"

"Two months, so not long. We got married in July and I came here August 21 for school. We'll be married three months soon." He smiled.

"What school?"

"Northwestern."

"I want to go there. I'm starting my senior year of high school and I'm looking forward to high school being over."

"I know what you mean."

"So how is Northwestern?"

"It's fun. The professors I have are really good. What are you planning to major in?"

"Business management and law. I want to open my own law firm one day." Business management. That sounded interesting.

"Sounds like fun. And thanks for the extra pizza. Do you take debit?" He nodded.

"Sure thing." I handed him the card and he ringed me up and handed it back. "You have a nice day." I smiled and nodded.

"You too."

I walked out of the shop and started running back to the dormitories. I started thinking about what that guy had said. Business management was definitely a good degree to have. And I could have it within three years. And Jacob always said he wanted to open his own repair shop. I was grinning from ear to ear when I got back home. I would need to talk to Jacob about it first, but I was sure I'd finally decided what I wanted to do. It might not have been going into medicine or becoming a big shot lawyer or anything like that, but it was something I knew I would want to do and something Jacob and I could do together.

"You look happy. What happened on your way here?" Samantha asked me as I walked into our dorm.

"I think I know what I want my major to be." Samantha grinned.

"I should send you shopping more often. What grand epiphany did you have while you were out and about?"

"Business management. Jacob wants to start his own business one day and I can't think of any better way to help and support him in that than getting a degree in business management and going into business with him." Samantha smiled wider.

"And if you need an accountant, I'm your girl." I smiled and nodded my head. "You can get that in, like, two years. It's not too late to change all your classes."

"I don't really need to. I can just talk to the councilor as soon as possible and talk to her about it and she can just tell me what classes I need to get in ASAP."

"And if you take a shitload of summer classes, you really can be done in two years." I grinned wider. This was sounding better and better.

"I'll be going to the councilor first thing on Monday." Samantha laughed a little.

"No you won't. You don't have a prayer of meeting with a councilor without an appointment. Those people are busy 24-7. I think their office is open, so look for the number on the school website, call them, and set up an appointment. You might even be able to get one soon. And you can always look in the little booklet we all got that tells you the class requirements for certain degrees."

"That's true." I went to my drawers and started looking for it. "How did I not remember this thing?" Samantha grinned and shrugged while petting Medusa.

"Aren't you glad you had me to remind you?" I nodded.

"Very glad." When I had the booklet in hand, I searched through it until I found the page that told of the requirements for a bachelor's degree in business management. To my joy, I didn't need to change a thing. All I needed to do was sign up for an extra class and I still could do that. "Would you be really mad if I told you I want to skip on the dorm party tonight?"

"Infuriated. The party starts at eight. That's plenty of time for you to call everyone you need to and to get yourself enrolled in a class." I sighed.

"Alright, fine. Give me Medusa, I want to hold something." Samantha nodded.

"Here you go. I'm starting to think she likes you more than me. She doesn't move as much on you."

"She must like my scent, I guess."

"Maybe. I'm going to go next door and buy some ramen. Do you want any?" I shook my head.

"That's okay. I'll just have something in the mini-fridge." Samantha shrugged and got her shoes on.

"Alright, Nessie. Suit yourself. I'll be back soon."

"See you, Samantha." We waved goodbye as Samantha grabbed her wallet and walked out of the dorm room.

When she was gone, I went on the school website and looked for the phone number to the councilor's office and set up an appointment as soon as I found it. After that was done, I called home and waited for someone to answer. Alice was the one to answer me and she handed me to daddy as soon as she was done asking me how school was and how I was doing. When daddy was on the phone, he sounded happy to hear my voice.

"Hey, daddy."

"_Hey, honey. It's a pleasure to hear from you. We all miss you."_ I nodded.

"I know. I miss you guys too. It's weird not seeing you every day. How are you all doing?"

"_We're all doing well."_

"How's Jacob doing? Is he coming over for dinner a lot?" Daddy chuckled.

"_He's surviving, honey. He's eating our silver wear, but other than that, he's fine."_

"What do you mean he's eating silver wear?" Daddy laughed a little again.

"_Well, sometimes when he's eating, he'll start thinking about you and he'll get so engraved in his thoughts that the world sort of disappears for him and he starts chewing on his fork or spoon without thinking. He actually tried eating a plate today. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Esme made him a sandwich and he finished it, but he was thinking about you, so he started chewing on the plate, thinking it was the sandwich."_

"That's awful. What if he actually swallows something?"

"_Carlisle's always on call, so if Jacob actually eats something, he'll be fine. Don't worry, honey."_ I sighed.

"Is he there now?"

"_No. He's out with Embry and Quil. They're taking him with them to a little carnival that's nearby. Claire wanted to go, so Quil's taking her and Embry and Jacob came with. Leah even went and she took Hailey."_

"That's good to hear. I'm so happy for her. She deserves a little happiness."

"_Yeah, she does. She's been miserable for so long that it's nice to see her smile again. I've never seen it before Friday, but Seth remembered all the other times she'd smiled and it's a shame she didn't do that more often. She has a lovely smile."_

"I'll make Jacob tell her I said hi when I call him later. He brought his phone with him, right?"

"_Of course he did, honey. He would never risk missing a call from you."_ I smiled.

"Alright, that's reassuring. Now that all that's out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about something regarding school."

"_And what's that, Nessie?"_

"I know what I want to major in." I could almost feel daddy grin from ear to ear.

"_That's great, Nessie. I'm thrilled you finally chose something. What have you decided to major in?"_

"Business management." And I could feel daddy become underwhelmed.

"_Is that it?"_ I sighed and laughed a little.

"Were you banking on me picking the medical field?"

"_Sort of. Carlisle kind of had his heart set on that to tell you the truth. We're all proud of you no matter what, but I guess business management wasn't what I pictured for you."_

"Well, it's a degree I could get really quickly and since it's still technically the first week of school, I can get myself into the program. All I need is one extra class and I'll be on the right track. I'm already in a high enough math class and a foreign language class, so that's good. And if I take a lot of summer classes and get myself ahead, I can have my degree in two years."

"_Nessie, you're already ahead by a year."_

"I know, but why wait when I could breeze through it?"

"_And what inspired this passion, sweetheart?"_ I grinned a little.

"You know how Jacob's always wanted to open up his own shop and stuff?" I waited for daddy to answer me, and it took no time.

"_You want to open a repair shop with him?"_ I nodded.

"It's something I know Jacob would be happy with. And I could set my own hours and everything." Daddy chuckled.

"_That's quite a plan, honey. Now all that's left is to talk to Jacob about it."_

"Do you think he'll be open to the idea?"

"_I'm sure he will be. He'll never tell you this, but he's hoping you'll pick a major that requires as little schooling as possible so you can finally come home. And he'll never ever tell you that he's considered asking you to drop out, but he knows I'd never allow that. He wouldn't either anyway, but I'm trailing off."_ I smiled wider.

"I hope he agrees. I think it's a good idea for us to do that. It's something he loves to do and I'd be there supporting him all the way." Daddy chuckled.

"_That's the spirit, Nessie. And hey, there's always twenty or thirty years from now to try out medical school."_ I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"I miss you, daddy."

"_I miss you too, Renesmee."_ I heard someone whisper to daddy. _"Here, your mother wants to talk to you." _I heard the phone being passed, then I heard momma's voice. _"So it's business management?" _I nodded.

"Yeah, momma. It's a good major to have regardless."

"_Certainly is. Jacob will be thrilled to death with the idea, I'm sure. And it's about time he got a job closer to home."_

"That'll all depend on where we can find a place, but yeah. You heard everything I said to daddy, right?"

"_Yeah, I did. And the sooner you can come home, the better. And don't let your father tease you. You know perfectly well that we'll support you in anything you like and if being a doctor isn't something you want to do, then we'll understand."_

"Thanks, momma. I could even transfer to the peninsula college and take classes there."

"_Don't do that, Nessie. You started at Northwestern, so finish at Northwestern. It would be silly to transfer to a different college so early on."  
_

"Yeah, I know. It's tempting, though."

"_I know, Renesmee, but hang in there. It's just two years that you've managed to narrow it down to. So tell me, what's it like? Are you enjoying yourself?"_

"Yeah, I am. I've actually come to like my math teacher. You know, the one that's a vampire?"

"_I'm glad to hear that."_

"He's sort of childish, but it's kind of funny. You know what I mean? When its math we're talking about, he makes it fun to learn and you can tell he loves the subject and loves teaching it. And anything other than math, he has such an innocent view of things for lack of a better word. It's almost adorable." Momma laughed.

"_I've never heard of a teacher being called adorable, but I'll take your word for it. As long as the teacher doesn't pose a threat of any kind."_ I shook my head.

"I don't think he would hurt a fly, actually. He's too nice. My Spanish teacher is a whole other matter, though. He's really serious and gets mad whenever people talk in class. Being a vampire with excellent hearing, he calls out anyone that talks in his class and they get a zero for the day."

"_That's harsh."_

"Yeah, I know. I've never said a peep in his class unless I'm spoken to."

"_Isn't the point of a Spanish class to talk?"_

"In Spanish, yes. But unless you're spoken to, he expects silence. He's been nicknamed Señor Castro."

"_It sounds awful. But with teachers like that, honey, the best you can do is stay on his good side and get through the class. I remember, my sophomore year of high school, I had an Earth Science teacher that was a Nazi, I swear she was. Everything, like our handwriting and how we stapled our papers and who we could be partnered up with, had to be done and handled just so. One guy in that class had forgotten to staple his paper and used a paper clip instead and she failed him and made him redo his paper."_

"That's ridiculous."

"_That's what his parents said. The school made her take back the grade."_

"That's a relief."

"_Yeah. People dreaded having her. I wish I could remember what her name was."_

"It's too bad Jacob never went to your school in Phoenix. He could've glued her hand to the floor." Momma burst into a fit of laughter and I joined her. When momma was done laughing, she answered me.

"Yeah, it's a real shame. But I think with her, Jacob would be much crueler."

"What's crueler than gluing a teacher's hand to the tile floor?"

"_Dipping someone's underwear in meat so all the neighborhood dogs attack the victim_." I giggled.

"Yeah, that's pretty mean too. Jacob was a rotten little boy, wasn't he?"

"_That's what Billy and Charlie always say. But it's Jacob, so it's okay. And he stopped doing that sort of stuff as far as I know."_

"I doubt very seriously Jacob would do something like that now. He's a grown man, momma, he's more mature."

"_That's true. But remember, honey, age doesn't always define maturity. There are plenty of older people out there that may as well be little children."_ I giggled and nodded.

"I know, momma. And I need to tell you something really quickly. I bought some pizzas for Jacob and I sent them to your house. I wanted them to be a surprise and I didn't want them to be left outside. Could you take it to our house when he gets back from work?"

"_Sure thing, Nessie. We'll keep it warm for him." _

"Thanks, momma. I'll talk to you guys later, okay."

"_Sure thing, Nessie. Don't wait too long to call us again."_ I smiled and nodded my head.

"I won't momma. I love you."

"_I love you too, Nessie."_

Momma and I hung up the phone and I immediately went back to my contact list and looked for Jacob's name. When I found it, I pressed talk and waited for him to answer. When he did, he didn't talk for a moment. He was walking to a quieter spot and he finally spoke when there was little background noise.

"_Nessie! How're you doing?"_ I grinned at the excitement in his voice.

"I'm doing great. I called to tell you something I think you'll appreciate." Jacob chuckled.

"_And here, I thought you were calling just because you missed me."_ I giggled and shook my head to myself.

"That's part of it too. But I wanted to tell you that I've decided what I want to major in."

"_Nessie, that's fantastic. What did you decide to major in?"_

"Business management. I got the idea from a friend of mine." The last part was a little white lie, but it didn't matter. I didn't want him to know I'd gotten him pizza until he got it tomorrow. "You said you've always wanted to own your own repair shop and I thought we could do it together. So what do you think about that idea?"

"_You would do that?"_ I smiled wider. He was definitely open to the idea.

"Of course I would. And it's a degree I could get rather quickly and since you'd be my boss, you could give me flexible hours for those kids we've been talking so much about." Jacob was silent on the other line for a moment. I waited for him to say something. When he did, his voice was torn between joy and surprise.

"_I don't know what to say."_ I smiled wider.

"You could say, 'Oh silly Nessie, why didn't you think of this sooner? It's a wonderful idea and I'm so happy to be married to you'."

"_Oh silly Nessie, why didn't you think of this sooner? It's a wonderful idea and I'm so happy to be married to you."_ I giggled and he laughed a little with me. _"What did I ever do to deserve you?"_

"I take that as a yes to the idea?" Jacob chuckled.

"_Yes, Nessie. How long will it take you to get that degree?"_

"Two years if I take summer courses."

"_I can live with two years."_

"What do you want to call the shop when we get it?"

"_We'll decide that when it actually happens. Let's focus on this for now."_

"Alright, love. Whatever you say. So how's the carnival?"

"_Great. Quil's so relieved that Claire isn't playing the recorder it's almost mean."_

"Claire started playing an instrument? That's great."

"_Nessie, it's the recorder. It's a vile instrument that's forcefully taught in elementary schools because no one would play it otherwise."_

"It can't be that bad, Jacob."

"_Watch that episode of South Park where the gang has to play the recorder and you'll change your mind. Granted, Claire hasn't figured out how to use the brown noise, but it's still painful."_

"Jacob, she just started playing it. You can't expect her to be good at it already. Besides, I'm sure you're exaggerating. Quil would never think something like that when Claire's playing it." Jacob sighed.

"_Nessie, the man said, and I quote, 'I wish I could go back in time to meet the man who invented the recorder so I could take Claire's and shove it up his ass. Then I'd beat him to death with it to ensure that the recorder would never be invented' end quote."_

"He did not."

"_Do you want him to tell you? He's right outside. I personally would rather meet whoever composed the song hot cross buns and hit his head against a wall repeatedly so he learned how much pain that stupid song brought me during third grade. That song still haunts me, Nessie."_

"Well, Jacob, since learning to play the recorder is such a big requirement of the US school curriculum, I can't imagine that it's so widely hated."

"_Nessie, Billy wrote a note to my music teacher demanding that I be allowed to do something else to earn my music grade. He was a hair away from breaking that thing in half because I was so bad at it."_

"I'm sure Billy didn't do that."

"_Seriously, Nessie, I'll have them tell you themselves how bad it was. And you can judge for yourself when you see Claire's recorder concert at the end of the year."_

"They'll be better at the end of the year."

"_Not if they don't practice, which they never do. When we were all playing the recorder, I think we practiced once for two minutes before the sounds was too much for is. It was like listening to a dying cat."_

"That's how it is for anyone who's first learning an instrument. You get better with time."

"_It's impossible to be good at playing the recorder because the recorder is a naturally awful sounding instrument. Seriously, go onto youtube and look for people playing the recorder. Even professionals sound bad." _

"Jacob, that's not true and you know it."

"_Have you ever heard someone play the recorder, Nessie? Even Edward would suck because it's a sucky instrument."_ I sighed.

"Even if it was a bad sounding instrument, I can guarantee you that daddy would make it sound good."

"_Nessie, there are some things that even Edward can't do and making the recorder sound good is one of them." _

"You want to bet?"

"_Sure. Name your price."_ I giggled and shook my head.

"Never mind Jacob. There's no way to test it fairly."

"_Haha, I win another argument."_ I shook my head.

"No, Jacob. This is an example of you being wrong even when you may very well be right. I gave you the age argument as a freebie, but I'm not giving you another one." Jacob chuckled.

"_I'm right, Nessie, and you know it."_

"Fine. Send me a tape or something of daddy playing the recorder and we'll place a verdict when I hear it. We'll decide the terms later."

"_You're on, baby. Don't be so torn up about it when you lose the bet. I won't make you do anything too horrible."_

"Likewise, Jacob. You're in for a rude awakening if you think my daddy can't play the recorder."

"_I have no doubt he could play it. What I doubt is that even he would be able to do it well."_ I giggled and shook my head.

"Are you still coming next weekend?"

"_Yeah, I am. You think I could tolerate another week of not seeing you?"_

"I know what you mean. It's awful not seeing you every day."

"_I know. I can't wait to see you again."_ I smiled.

"Me either. Since you're at the carnival with the others, I'll go ahead and let you go."

"_They can wait."_ I shook my head.

"No, it's rude of me to keep you. I'll call you again later tonight and we can take all the time we like then." Jacob sighed.

"_Alright, I'll talk to you later then."_ I smiled.

"I love you."

"_I love you too."_ Then Jacob and I hung up our phones and I got to work on some homework that I hadn't finished yet.

Samantha was back shortly after Jacob and I finished talking. In hand, she had two cups of picante kimchi ramen that were already filled with water. She stuck them both in the microwave in our room above the mini-fridge one at a time and indulged in both when they were done. Before eating them, she cracked a raw egg over the top and added chili flakes to add extra heat.

"You know, I don't care if I get fat off this stuff. It's delicious." I smiled.

"At least you won't look at your expanding thighs and wonder how they got there." Samantha laughed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm nineteen, Nessie. I have the metabolism that lets me get away with eating this sort of stuff."

"Just remember that you won't have that metabolism forever." Samantha laughed.

"Forever or not, I'm enjoying it while it's here."

I finished my homework while Samantha ate her lunch. When she was done eating, she went to the shower to get herself clean and ready for tonight. My hair had already dried and it curled on its own, so styling it wasn't really needed unless I wanted to make it fuller. When Samantha got back, she turned on the hair dryer and got to work drying her hair. When it was dry, she combed through it and turned on her flat iron to straighten her hair. When it was just the way she wanted it, she looked through our closet for something to wear.

"Have you decided what you're wearing tonight?"

"Jeans and a t-shirt should do fine."

"Oh come on, Nessie. You can do better than that."

"Samantha, I don't need to. I'm married and no longer need to dress to impress for anyone other than my husband. And seeing as my husband isn't her, than I have no one to impress." Samantha sighed.

"Oh, Nessie. At least make it an interesting shirt. I think my shirts would fit you. You could always burrow one of my logoed shirts." I shook my head.

"I'll pass. The last thing I need is men looking at me boobs more than they already do. I don't believe them for a moment when they say they're just reading our shirts."

"It's partially true."

"Only partially."

"One thing's for sure, Nessie. Jacob will never have to worry about you committing an infidelity." I smiled.

"No he won't."

Samantha smiled and looked through the closet some more until she found a shirt and skirt combination that pleased her. Then she picked leggings and ankle boots to go with it. When she was done rummaging through the closet, I took the spot she'd been in and looked through my stuff for something. I took out my usual skinny jeans and my old slipknot shirt that still smelled like pot and a pair of sneakers. The shirt was really tight on me by now, so that would be enough for Samantha to consider it dorm party appropriate.

We left shortly after the party was due to start. As was promised, the living room of the dorm was filled with colorful lights and there was a guy sitting next to the stereo keeping up a good string of music. When I saw the giant keg in the middle of the room, I wasn't sure if I should be surprised that it was there, or that the teacher running the dorm was allowing it.

"The RA is letting people have a keg?" Samantha nodded.

"She lets them drink beer because she wants them to like her. I wish our RA cared about what we thought about her. Maybe then she wouldn't be such a massive bitch." I shrugged.

"We can dream."

"And don't let her catch you with Jacob in the dorm. He isn't technically allowed to spend the night there without talking to the school first and you know how rule bent the RA is."

"Don't let Mrs. Steinbach see Jacob in our dorm room. Got it."

Samantha smiled and we walked into the living room and joined the party. I was planning on staying off to the side for most of the party, but there were hundreds of people trying to talk to me or Samantha. For the most part, the guys backed off as soon as I showed them my ring, but there was one guy that was a little drunk and wasn't paying attention.

"So how do you like college, baby?" I sighed and ignored the slur in his words. I tried to remind myself that he was probably a nice person when he was sober.

"It's okay. How about you?"

"It's the shit. Living away from home, parties just about every night, it's awesome. It feels great to be all on my own." I nodded skeptically.

"Ahuh. And who's paying your tuition?" He was about to answer, but then his face became confused.

"Wait, what?" I sighed.

"You really are drunk if that confused you." He nodded awkwardly, not really knowing what I was talking about. Since he didn't know what I was saying, he changed the subject all together.

"You want to go back to my dorm? This party's starting to get lame."

"No thank you. I should stay here."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty good, if you know what I mean." I sighed.

"I'm a married woman, dude. You're fighting a lost battle." His face became confused.

"You want to have sex or not."

"No, I don't. I said that to you four times. And I suggest you stop with the beer before you end up passed out on the floor and make yourself a vegetable."

I walked away from the guy while he was scratching his head trying to figure out what I'd just said. When he couldn't figure it out, he went to another girl and started hitting on her. I tried looking for Samantha, but when I found her, she was in her boyfriend's arms making out like no one was there, so I left her alone. Seeing that just made me miss Jacob even more.

I left the dorm party really early and started walking back to my dorm. I wanted to talk to Jacob. As I was walking back to my dorm, I heard someone yelp, but then be silenced with a deafening crack that could only be bone. I froze, knowing all too well what that was. I started inching towards the sound trying to make sure the vampire would ignore me. As I feared, when I had the site in full view, it was Professor Frefererro with a man in his arms sinking his teeth into his neck. He finished in seconds and looked straight at me. When our eyes met, I turned the other direction and was about to walk away. But when I tried, he was suddenly right in front of me and walking closer to me with a look of death on his face. I would say I should've seen this coming, but that would be ironic.

"Black."

"Professor."

"What are you doing out at this hour?"

"I'm going back to my dorm." Professor Frefererro gave me an odd look to replace the evil stare.

"You seem oddly unalarmed by what you just saw."

"Even vampires need to eat, sir. Besides, that wasn't a student. It doesn't make killing right, but at least you didn't crush the hopes and dreams of a young, aspiring college student." Frefererro laughed without humor.

"Indeed. Who's going to miss a homeless man, right? How long have you known what I am?"

"Since I first saw you. I saw your eyes when you turned to the side. Same thing with Professor Del Toro." Frefererro sighed.

"Well, Filipe's a dumbass, so that can't be helped."

"Are you two friends?"

"I'd say he thinks of me as a friend and coven mate, and I think of him as the thorn in my side that I've been trying to get rid of for 600 years." He looked at me a moment thoughtfully. Then his face became awed and aware. "You're not human. But you're not a vampire either."

"I'm half and half. I'm told the discriminatory term is a Dhampir. My parents are Edward and Bella Cullen." His became intrigued.

"You mean the Cullens that killed the Volturi and ended the Lycan plague?" I nodded.

"One in the same."

"But why do you call yourself Renesmee Black?" I held up my left hand.

"I got married recently. Cullen's my maiden name."

"I see. So you know Carlisle Cullen really well, do you?" I nodded.

"He's my grandpa for all intents and purposes. Why, do you know him?"

"I knew his mother. I owned a bar in London for several years and had met Adele on several occasions. She was a sweet woman, really. It's a shame her husband went and accused her of witch craft."

"So that is what happened to her?" He nodded.

"Indeed. She had a little book that she would doodle in. Her father had been a doctor, so she grew up with a fascination of the human body. When Blaine found that book, he assumed it was witch craft and killed her after Carlisle was born. 'To cleanse her damned soul.'" He rolled his eyes at the last part.

"Does Carlisle know you?"

"Vaguely. I've met him once or twice, but his father thought the worst of me. I think he knew I was a vampire or something off, but I was rather intimidating to most. No one was willing to attack me and find out." Then he chuckled. "I'm actually good friends with the person that changed Carlisle. That's a story he tells to this day."

"Interesting."

"I also know that Advent fellow that Carlisle hates so much."

"Who?"

"Advent. He's a Frenchie that was a regular at the bar I owned. He found Carlisle's fate ironic and took joy in rubbing it in his face. Carlisle, of course, didn't appreciate that and they've despised each other since they first met. I can honestly say Advent is the only vampire to ever make Carlisle angry enough to lose his temper." I was quiet a moment. There was really only one thing I wanted to know at the moment.

"I won't tell anyone about this. You know that, right?"

"Of course I know that. You're in the same position I'm in. Granted the absence of the Volturi makes our lifestyle much easier, but rumors are spreading that your coven took the Volturi's place. And if you were strong enough to defeat them, there's no telling what you could do."

"We haven't taken over. Carlisle wouldn't hurt a fly, you should know that."

"I do. That's why it took a while for me to believe the Volturi were really gone. But with the news I heard of their abandoned castle and no news traveling amongst vampires of a new resting spot, I became a believer."

"Whatever keeps the peace in our world." He shrugged.

"It depends on where you are. In South America, there are blood bars popping up all over the place. I haven't seen one since the one I owned." My eyes widened.

"What?"

"Blood bars. That's the slaying term for them. But they're publically called morning clubs since they usually stay open until early morning."

"And do they….?"

"They steal donated blood or drain blood from victims they kidnap and serve it to vampires. Blood bars always have a bouncer that's strong enough to take on several vampires at once so they can remove a vampire that's getting out of hand. And if a human wanders in, then it's the end of their life, plain and simple."

"Will it make their existence obvious?" He shook his head.

"Not at all. Those were around for years and people were never the wiser. Besides, any human that wandered in never lived to tell people otherwise. I'd be more concerned about another one of those vampire territory wars breaking out. Without the Volturi around and Carlisle not willing to take over and lay down the law, who's to stop them? But I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"Positive. Now, on a much more important topic, did you read chapter nine like you were told?" I gave him a weird look for the 180 change in subject, but nodded.

"Yeah. I read it yesterday."

"Good. Then you must know all about Roman Hispania." I nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Speak of this to no one and I'll leave you be. I expect the same from you. And whatever you do, don't tell Filipe about this. The last thing I need is him trying to convince me to make you a friend." I nodded awkwardly.

"No problem. Can I ask one thing, though?" He shrugged.

"I don't see why not. You've already seen me kill a man. What could be worse than that?" I was about to ask my question, but someone was suddenly behind me and gave me a big hug. I didn't recognize the scent and the grip was cold and hard and tight. I screamed in surprise and Frefererro got really mad. "Damn it, Filipe, put her down. You can't go around hugging people randomly." I heard a deep chuckle and recognized it as Professor Del Toro.

"Sorry, Diego. I couldn't resist. She's so adorable." Then Del Toro dropped me and went to Frefererro's side. "Did you do your homework, Bessie?"

"It's Nessie, Filipe."

"Did you do your homework, Nessie?" I nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah. I got it done yesterday."

"That a girl! I knew you could kick calculus in the ass!" Frefererro closed his eyes and rubbed his face in embarrassment.

"Yeah, calculus. Piece of cake." It was so strange for Professor Del Toro to act like this when he was a vampire. And one would never guess he did by looking at him. He was tall and muscular with dark brown hair that was thick and a woman would crave to touch. Frefererro was about the same. He was shorter and less muscular, but he was still handsome.

"So what are you doing out so late at night?"

"I'm going back to my dorm."

"And what brought on a conversation between you and Professor Castro?" Frefererro growled.

"God damn it, Filipe, shut up." Del Toro looked at Frefererro, then at me. Something looked like it clicked in his head.

"Did you two pass by each other on this lovely summer night?" I gave him a strange look and Frefererro's tone was like a growl as he answered.

"Stop trying to rationalize the situation, Filipe. Logic isn't something you're good with. She saw me attack that puto." Filipe gasped and looked at Frefererro.

"Diego, it's not very nice to call a man a puto."

"I don't give a flying fuck, Filipe. What does that have to do with Nessie?"

"Oh yeah, the homeless whore." Frefererro sighed and Del Toro looked at me thoughtfully. "So should we kill her?" I stiffened and Frefererro got angrier.

"No, Filipe! We don't need to do that. She's one of us anyway." When Frefererro said that, Del Toro's face seemed to light up.

"Yay!!" We both jumped back a bit from Del Toro's excitement, then he came to me and took both my hands in his. "We'll make great friends, Nessie. We'll go hunting together, and we'll take you to your first blood bar, and best of all, we'll paint each other's toenails." I was so stunned and wide eyed that I didn't say anything. Frefererro looked stunned, then embarrassed.

"Damn it, Filipe, the last thing this poor girl wants is to become your life size Barbie doll."

"But Diego, Barbie was blonde." Frefererro looked confused and attempted to say something, but then he gave up with a sigh and started rubbing his face again.

"Yes, Filipe, yes she was." I laughed nervously and smiled politely.

"I think I should get back to my dorm now. It was a pleasure seeing you both."

"It was a pleasure to see you too, Nessie. You be a good student now." I smiled at Professor Del Toro and was about to leave.

"Hold on Miss Black." I stopped and looked at Frefererro.

"Yes, sir?"

"You had a question for me and if its class related, I'd like to hear it."

"It's kind of a silly question, more like a rumor. Some people that had you say that you get really irritable during the Spanish Inquisition unit and I was wondering why that is." Frefererro was immediate to answer.

"That's not important, Nessie. Just stay on my good side and you'll be fine." But when Frefererro finished, Del Toro stepped in.

"He gets mad because during the Spanish Inquisition, his penis was cut off." I stared at them wide eyed and Frefererro's eyes filled with furry.

"God damn it, Filipe, don't tell people that!" Ignoring Frefererro, Del Toro continued.

"Frefererro was a Muslim, you see, and he refused to convert to Catholicism. When all their other torture methods didn't work, they cut off his penis. And that is why he gets so cranky, because he's a eunuch."

"God damn it, Filipe, what business is that of hers?! I don't want her to fucking know that! And another thing! They didn't cut off my penis, it was only my testicles! I wouldn't fucking be alive today if they cut off my penis!!" Del Toro was smiling kindly.

"Oh, don't worry, Diego. I'm sure she won't tell anyone that you don't have a penis."

"STOP FUCKING SAYING THAT YOU COMPLACENT FEATHERBRAINED FUCKTARD!!" Del Toro ignored him again and looked at me.

"And that's how Diego became a vampire, and we became friends. I found him like that, took pity on him, and changed him."

"You drained me of half the blood in my body and only stopped because monks started attacking you, Filipe!"

"Yep! And it was the start of a beautiful friendship." I stayed wide eyed as Frefererro yelled at Del Toro some more. I was beginning to understand why the relationship was one-sided.

As they kept arguing, I walked away without a single word to them. I knew Jacob would be mad that I talked to them, but I was hoping that the stupidity that came with it would cut through the seriousness of the situation. When I got back to my dorm, I looked at the clock and was stubbed to see it was already midnight. But at least it was only ten in Washington. I called Jacob and plopped onto my bed, waiting for him to answer me. When he did, he had the same joy and excitement in his voice that he always did when I called him.

"_Nessie, how are you? What are you doing up this late?"_ I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"I just came back from a dorm party. I thought I should call you before I go to bed, but seeing as I'm clearly not at the top of things you want to do right now, maybe I'll just hang up and let you sleep."

"_No, Nessie, I'm just concerned. I'm only lecturing because I love you."_

"Will you still love me when I tell you that I caught Frefererro drinking someone's blood outside the dorm and now they know what I am and that I know what they are?"

"_You talked to them?! Nessie, I asked you not to talk to them. Why did you talk to them?"_ I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Jacob, I know you're mad, but it's really not a big deal. They aren't a threat to us. Frefererro's just cranky at times and Del Toro's simply a two year old that's good at math. And it turns out Frefererro knew Carlisle and his mother."

"_Of course he does, Nessie, they're all old."_

"Jacob, that's awful!" Jacob chuckled.

"_It's true when you're talking about vampires. They've all lived a long time and have had plenty of opportunity in the centuries that they've lived to come across each other one way or another."_

"Jacob, just because they've been around a while doesn't mean they all know each other. And Frefererro was good friends with Carlisle's mother, so I think we should be nice to him." Frefererro didn't say he was friends per se, but I figured if he knew what he did about her, that was information that was generally only acquired when two people were friends. Especially when talking about a stuffy social setting like London.

"_You can't expect that, Nessie. This man attacked a student!"_

"It wasn't a student, it was a homeless man that wandered onto campus."

"_That doesn't make it okay, Nessie"_

"I never said it did. I'm just saying it wasn't one of the students. Besides, Jacob, when Professor Del Toro found out what I am, he decided we should be best friends and paint each other's toenails." There was silence on the other end of the line. I waited for Jacob's reaction, or lack thereof. When he finally spoke again, it was a quiet sound and very confused.

"_What?"_

"He offered to paint my toenails." There was silence again for a moment.

"_Why?"_

"He's happy to see another vampire on campus, even if I'm only half. And he's just a vampire that loves new people. Frefererro's more to himself and is kind of a prick, but he's okay."

"_Nessie, please don't talk to them anymore. Even if your biggest worry is having your nails painted a bad color, please just leave them be."_

"Don't you want to know the best part of the conversation? The thing I learned that will haunt me for the rest of my life and if I have to suffer so do you?"

"_What are you talking about, Nessie?"_

"It turns out that Professor Frefererro is a eunuch." There was silence again for a moment.

"_You see, Nessie, I was eating a perfectly good bucket of KFC grilled chicken and you just ruined it by informing me that your Spanish teacher doesn't have balls. Thanks, Nessie, really, I appreciate it."_ I giggled and shook my head.

"You shouldn't be eating that stuff anyway. It's a one-way street to clogged arteries."

"_Nessie, I'm stuck at the age of sixteen technically as long as I keep my wolf. A sixteen year old can eat all the KFC he wants and not gain an ounce. That's the beauty of being a teenage boy."_

"A teenage boy that looks twenty eight."

"_That's just a bonus baby. And you're a six year old that's trying to pass for nineteen, so yeah."_ I giggled.

"Obviously, I'm doing a good job. People honestly believe I'm nineteen."

"_They'd think you were twenty five if you told them that, Nessie. You could pass."_ I grinned.

"How sweet of you to say, Jacob."

"_Just telling the truth, Nessie. And while I'm thinking of it, be sure to tell Samantha to spend the night with a friend over the weekend. I'll be there by Friday night."_ I smiled.

"You gave me something to look forward to all week, Jacob."

"_I gave us both something to look forward. And remember what I told you."_

"What did you tell me?"

"_I told you that when we were through, you wouldn't be able to walk."_ I giggled.

"Is that a promise, Jacob?"

"_It most definitely is, Nessie."_

"Should I go get a wheelchair before you get here?" Jacob and I laughed together.

"_I would recommend it."_ We laughed some more and I rolled my eyes at him.

"I can't wait for the temporary paralysis, Jacob. That's the only time you'll ever hear me say something like that." Jacob chuckled.

"_You could always do the same to me, Nessie. It might take a little more effort for you to make sure I couldn't walk, but I'm sure you can do it. I'm sure my boss won't mind letting me have one day off."_ I giggled and rolled my eyes again.

"God, I miss you."

"_I miss you too, Nessie. I'm eagerly awaiting the holidays when you'll be home, even if only for a few weeks."_ I grinned.

"I'll make the month long break worth your while, Jacob. I can promise you that."

"_I know you can, Nessie. And I'll do the same for you. Now get some sleep, Nessie. It's one in the morning where you are."_

"It's midnight." Jacob chuckled.

"_That's still a bit late to be up. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Nessie."_

"Alright, Jacob. I love you."

"_I love you too, Nessie."_

When Jacob and I hung up, I tossed my phone onto my desk and closed my eyes. I wasn't really tired yet, but I knew I would be eventually if I kept my eyes closed long enough. Samantha didn't get back until two in the morning. When she did come back, she made a point to ask me why I bailed out on the dorm party. I just told her I was tired, leaving out any encounter with the professors, and left it at that. She was disappointed, but she let it go and get dressed for bed.

I woke up really late the next day and immediately called Jacob after I took a shower. Samantha worked on homework last minute like she very clearly had a habit of doing while Jacob and I talked all day. When I'd called him, he was at home enjoying the two pizzas I'd sent him and I fought a laugh when he managed to eat both in less than twenty minutes. He really was a bottomless pit.

While we spoke, my teachers never came up. I made a point not to talk about them. I knew that would only make Jacob upset. So instead, I told him things about Samantha to which she would always respond with the finger or sticking her tongue out at me. I'd stick my tongue out right back and we'd have a quick laugh about it. While talking to Jacob, I was sure to tell Samantha that Jacob and I needed her to spend the night with another friend in the dorm.

"Sure thing, Nessie. I'll spend the night with Crystal down the hall. I wouldn't want to interfere with you and your husband doing the nasty." I giggled and shook my head.

"_What did she say?"_ I rolled my eyes at Samantha before answering Jacob.

"She thinks we're going to do something called the nasty while you're here." Jacob was silent a moment.

"_I was kind of under the impression we would be too."_ It took a while for me to stop laughing after that. The sound of his voice had been so hurt that I couldn't stop myself. _"Why is that so funny?"_

"Never mind, Jacob, it just it. I've just never heard it referred to that before is all."

"_You haven't?"_ I shook my head.

"Nope, never." Jacob chuckled.

"_Sure you have. It's not something you hear every day seeing as you don't watch a lot of TV, but you've heard it."_ I rolled my eyes again and giggled.

"Whatever you say, Jacob. But I don't refer to it that way."

"_I know, baby."_ Samantha laughed a little at us while Jacob and I were talking about that. I told her to shut up, she smiled innocently, and we changed the subject with another big laugh.

Other than her occasional snickering and little comments, Samantha was quiet while Jacob and I talked and she worked on all the homework she'd waited last minute to do. When Jacob and I had to hang up, just to bug Samantha, I made a bunch of kissing sounds. Jacob thought it was strange, but he went with it anyway.

That Monday in history, Frefererro hardly acknowledged me. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but whenever I raised my hand to answer a question, he wouldn't call on me. There were only three kids in my class other than me that regularly raised their hands to answer question. Everyone else was either silent for the whole class or spoke to each other in English and never knew the material.

When class was over, I stayed in my seat and waited for the other people in the class to leave. When they were all gone, I walked to Professor Frefererro's desk. He looked a little surprised, but he went to the door and closed it before going back behind his desk. He stayed standing and so did I.

"Did you have a question, Miss Black?"

"You can call me Renesmee." He shrugged.

"Fair enough, Renesmee. Now did you have a question about class material?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something non-school related." He raised an eyebrow at me suspiciously.

"And that is….?" I sighed.

"I was hoping that you and Del Toro would refrain from hunting on campus."

"And why should we do that? There are humans to hunt on this campus and any human is free game."

"I understand, but the thing is……..you've heard of what my family did, right? With the Volturi incidences and the werewolf outburst thing?"

"What about it?"

"Have you heard of anything called the Quileute wolves, or Olympic wolves some people came to know them as?"

"Never heard of them, but go on." I sighed.

"Well, my husband, Jacob, is one of those wolves." He held up his hand to stop me.

"Your husband's a werewolf?" I shook my head.

"No, he's not a werewolf. He's a shape shifter that just happens to turn into a wolf. It's something that a lot of Quileute men can do. Women too if you count Leah."

"I don't know who Leah is."

"I know. So forget about that."

"Mrs. Black, does this have a point?"

"Yes, Professor, it does have a point."

"Then make it." I held back the annoyed sigh that wanted to form and answered his question.

"Those Quileute wolves hunt vampires. They protect the area I live from vampires and such and they do a good job of it. Jacob won't attack you or Del Toro as long as he never sees you or never sees you and him hunt. I don't want anything to happen."

"So you're asking me and Del Toro to change our hunting patterns because the big bad wolf is coming to visit?" I nodded.

"That's what I'm asking. It would only be over the weekend." Frefererro rolled his eyes and took off his glasses. When he did, the brown eyes changed to their normal scarlet red. It was strange to see him straight on with scarlet eyes. I was so used to seeing him with brown eyes and glasses.

"Renesmee, I'm not going to inconvenience myself by expanding my territory just because you're husband has a problem with vampires. If I see some dumb blonde prancing around that's only in college because her daddy has money, I'm drinking her blood. As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing the world a huge favor by killing off those students that are too retarded to put down the can of beer and study."

"It's only for the weekend. I don't want something coming up between you guys. I'll go to Del Toro, I'm sure he'll agree." Frefererro rolled his eyes.

"Of course he would. You could throw him a bone and he'd go after it."

"And whether you like him or not, he seems to have an effect on you that keeps you around."

"Renesmee, I'm not the one who stays. I try to ditch him in the desert somewhere and he still follows me. I told you, I've been trying to rid myself of him for 600 years."

"Why don't you just kill him if you hate him so much, professor?"

"Because as much of an idiot as he is, he's a gentle giant and I'd feel bad killing him. I'd feel much better if I ditched him out west somewhere and never saw him again."

"I never took you for a sentimental type, sir."

"Sometimes I am. And I'm not changing my hunting habits to make your husband happy. It's your job to do that, not mine. You took on that responsibility the moment he slipped that ring on your finger and you said 'I do'."

"And I think I do a damn good job of making him happy. But unfortunately, there are sometimes things that I can't easily control. I was hoping you might be willing to make this little inconvenience easier for me."

"It's not like he knows I'm here."

"Yeah he does. I told him about you and Del Toro when I found out you were both vampires."

"Does he plan to waste precious time hunting me when he should be spending it with you?" I was silent a moment.

"No. We're spending the weekend together." Frefererro nodded.

"Indeed. And with all that pent up sexual tension begging to be released, I'm sure he'll have no time to so much as worry about me let alone hunt me and Del Toro down. Keep the man busy and we'll all get along just fine."

"We sleep, professor."

"And?"

"We can't….do that all day long. It's not possible." Frefererro groaned.

"I once had sex with a flamenco dancer for two straight days. Granted she was a vampire too, but the point is, we did it for two days. If I can tolerate a woman for that long, you and he can keep each other company for a few short hours."

"Did I really need to know about the flamenco dancer?"

"Did it get my point across?" I shrugged.

"I guess."

"That's why you need to know about the flamenco dancer."

"I thought you were a….eunuch."

"I have a fucking penis, Mrs. Black, though the contents of my body are no business of yours whatsoever. What I no longer have are not needed to have sex, only to reproduce. And seeing as I'm a vampire and my partners are vampires, that's not an issue to begin with. And I expect you to never bring that up again." I nodded.

"Never again, sir."

"Good. Now read about Cordoba and get out of my face. I'll see you on Wednesday."

Frefererro took his seat at his desk and I walked out of the classroom slowly while he put his glasses back on. When I was down the hall, I walked a lot faster than normal. I was late to my science class, but that was a minor inconvenience. Frefererro had this look about him that was so intimidating and uncomfortable that being around him made people uneasy. I was no exception.

The next day in math, I took the time to talk to Del Toro about the same thing I'd told Frefererro. Though his response was much nicer and much more childlike, he pretty much said the exact same thing. He did promise to stay away from any wolves, but that was in a purely teasing tone, so I wasn't sure if he was taking me seriously or not. Though I doubted Del Toro ever took anything other than math seriously.

I didn't tell Jacob I talked to them about that. Telling him would only ensure that something bad would happen and if there was any chance I could make that less likely to happen, then I'd take it.

The rest of the week dragged on painfully. Anticipating for Jacob to come, it made me giddy and excited, so time seemed to slow down significantly. When it was finally Friday, I practically hurled Samantha out of our dorm as soon as our classes were over. It was only one in the afternoon and Jacob probably wouldn't get here until late at night, but I had every intention of leaping at him as soon as I saw him and I didn't want to take any chances that Samantha might still be here when Jacob arrived.

"You know, Nessie, this is my room too. You can't kick me out like this."

"Samantha, I haven't seen my husband in two solid weeks and you know exactly what we're planning to do as soon as he gets here. And frankly, I don't want you here when that happens."

"Nessie, it's a three day drive from Washington to here. Even if he left early Wednesday morning, it'll still be well into midnight before he shows up."

"I don't care. He might get here sooner. And I plan on attacking him even if you're here in the room."

"You don't strike me as the kind of girl that would do something like that."

"Normally I'm not. But to be perfectly frank, Samantha, I want Jacob so badly right now that we could have sex in the theatre with a crowd watching and I wouldn't give a rat's ass."

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving. Jesus, slow down a little would you. You're like a desperate virgin on crack."

"Sure, whatever Samantha. Now go to your friend's dorm. Are you sure you remembered everything you need?"

"Believe me, I have it. The way you're acting right now, you wouldn't even stop to acknowledge me or have the decency to cover up." I shook my head.

"You're right, I wouldn't. Have fun with what's her face." Samantha laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Have fun with hubby." Samantha smiled and I smiled back before practically slamming the door shut. Samantha exaggeratingly yelped in pain pretending that the door had actually hit her butt.

The rest of the day, I had my phone close by at all times waiting for Jacob to call me and ask to be let up. I did homework to pass the time, but that was over with way too quickly. I was finished by two and I still had a while before Jacob would most likely arrive. Samantha had brought a Nintendo with her to school, so I started playing Link even though I was horrible at the game. And it never took long for the fairy to get on my nerves. When I couldn't tolerate the fairy anymore, I turned off the Nintendo and started rereading my Spanish history book.

I got bored with it after reading two chapters ahead and threw my book onto the floor and laid in bed looking at the ceiling. I hated being anxious. I wished Jacob would just make it. I looked over at the clock and it was only three. I groaned and laid in bed a little longer and tried to fall asleep to make the time go by faster. But since I was so anxious, that didn't happen at all.

I ended up lying in Samantha's bed because she had one of those optic posters that looked like they were moving. It was better than staring blankly at the ceiling. When it was around five, I heard a tapping on the window and looked up to see Jacob perched on a branch on the tree outside waving his hand while another hand was holding a big bouquet of red roses. I leaped from Samantha's bed and ran to the window opening it as fast as I could. I didn't even say hello or give him a chance to do the same. I grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him into the dorm room and forced my lips to his without a single word.

As we were kissing, I heard Jacob close the window, then his hands roamed up my body until they reached my hair where he intertwined his fingers with my hair. I'd vaguely heard something fall to the floor, but I paid little attention to it.

As Jacob and I kissed and I licked his bottom lip to make it deeper, I brought my hands around to his back and pulled him forward as I walked back towards the general direction of my bed. As I was walking, Jacob stopped us and took his hands out of my hair and brought them to my legs, which I pulled up and wrapped around his waist. My hairs wrapped around his neck and the kiss deepened even more with the new closeness.

Jacob took over and walked to the bed I was trying to lead him to. When he reached it, he pulled us onto the bed and rested my back on the sheets as soon as he had his balance. When my head hit my pillow, Jacob took his lips away from mine and started kissing along my jaw until he got to my ear and sucked and licked. Even lying down, I still felt really dizzy. My nails were dragging along his back and neck and I felt him shutter every time my nails touched his spine.

Jacob placed soft kisses along my neck and trailed his tongue to taste my skin. He sucked on my skin when he reached the spot between my neck and shoulder, and it made me moan his name. Jacob smiled to himself and kept doing what he was doing. He sucked at that spot, the spot at the base of my throat, then the other spot where my neck and shoulder met. As he was sucking that spot, his hands went to the hem of my tank top and he pulled it up, taking his lips away only long enough to get the tank top off and over my head.

When my shirt was off, his mouth went right between my breasts and his hands took both and rubbed and squeezed them lovingly. While he was doing all that, I lifted my hips against his to add friction and he groaned into my skin when I rubbed his erection. I kept my left hand on his back, dragging my nails against his skin, while my right hand wandered down between us. I went straight for his erection and his grip tightened for a mere instant when I had my hand there. He was wearing his sweats like he usually did whenever he went on patrol.

Jacob kissed his way up my breast until he reached my nipple and he sucked on it like a child. When he did that, I slipped my hand inside his sweats and rubbed his shaft, squeezing as tightly as I could. With that touch, he groaned again and pushed forward sharply, making me squeak from the feeling.

When Jacob was satisfied with my left breast, he kissed his way to my right while his left hand trailed down my body, squeezing my waist and hips as he went down. That hand forced my leg up sharply, making us a little closer together. Then it trailed back down and over the inside of my thighs. His hand traveled all the way to my center where he rubbed his fingers against me teasingly. I moaned his name with every touch and Jacob smiled against my breast.

He sucked on my breast a few more minutes and I kept stroking him tightly. Then Jacob started kissing my ribcage and my stomach, keeping his kisses light and airy. When his lips were just above the waistband of my pajama pants, the hand that had been teasing me went there as did his other hand and he pulled my pants and panties down so I was bare to his eyes. I lost hold of his shaft moments before he reached that part of me, and I took a firm hold of his head when he got to that part.

One hand stayed on my hip and rubbed lovingly while his other hand touched me and forced his fingers inside me, helping his tongue with what he was doing. With the first touch of his tongue, I was flying and felt weightless in his arms. I held onto his head tightly and breathed heavily as his tongue worked its wonder on my body. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I was whining his name. The moment I said his name for the first time, his fingers moved faster inside me and I was fighting back a scream.

I bit down on my lip to keep myself quiet and Jacob persisted with a joyfully fast pace. Even with my teeth biting into my lip, I was still moaning in a hard to hear high pitch and my breathing accelerated even more. Jacob never slowed and his tongue never stopped working as I was rising higher and higher. When I couldn't hold on anymore and I was as high as I could get, my body crashed and I breathed in sharply and kept moaning gently as his hand slowly moved to help me ride out the orgasm.

When I was down, Jacob kissed his way back up my body and didn't stop until his lips were at my ear, licking my earlobe. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders tightly, never wanting to let go. Then Jacob was finally inside me and the wonderful feeling was back and I was ready to go all over again. I moaned his name as he entered me and Jacob took in a sharp breath and sucked on my skin just below my ear. Then he licked my ear again and I shuddered.

"I've missed you so much, you know that?" I couldn't do anything but nod. "I thought about you all the time, trying to pretend you were still home." Jacob moved suddenly, then stopped again. "Especially at night when I was alone. I tried picturing you doing all those things I like. I could never get it quite right, though." I moaned.

"That's why you have me, Jacob." Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck. Then he moved sharply again and breathed sharply and moaned.

"Did you think of me, Renesmee? Whenever you were alone or when you felt like you needed someone to hold you, did you think of me?" I nodded my head and lifted my hips up sharply, doing the same thing to him as he'd done to me.

"You're all I ever thought about, love."

Jacob responded with rapid movement and sucking on my neck greedily. I bit into his shoulder to muffle my moans and didn't even gentle my bite when I tasted blood. Jacob and I wrapped our arms around each other tightly and Jacob moved at jolting speed inside me. My lips on his skin was all that kept me from screaming.

Though he was sucking on my skin, Jacob was breathing heavily. I even felt vibrations in his stomach like he was growling. He probably was. Jacob and I stayed in that position for several thrusts and it never stopped feeling wonderful. But after a while, I decided to change positions. So I pushed on his chest so I could be on top. Jacob didn't fight me and turned onto his back like I wanted him to. But unfortunately, we were both used to having a king size bed. So when Jacob turned over, we both fell of the bed and onto the floor.

We were both so stunned, especially since the force from the fall seemed to make him slam into me. I lifted myself up in a straddling position and Jacob and I both started laughing at what just happened. His hands went to my hips and he caressed me gently.

"I can't believe we just did that."

"Me either. Shame on both of us for forgetting that we aren't in a king size bed right now."

"We're on the floor, Nessie. That's more than enough room, even for me." I started laughing and shook my head at him. He laughed too and lifted himself into a sitting position and held me tightly.

We laughed a little longer before Jacob kissed me again and I forgot what it was we'd been talking about. Once we were kissing again, I started moving to a new rhythm and Jacob followed with me perfectly. My hands went to his shoulders and I took a firm grip on him so I could increase my movements to add to the pleasure I was feeling.

Our lips never came apart. Our tongues mimicked what our bodies were doing and my head was spinning so much that I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep myself balanced if Jacob wasn't holding me. As we both came closer and closer to our release, Jacob's grip on me tightened even more and he used his left hand on my hip to force my body to move even faster. Then he forced me onto my back again with a thud and moved on his own as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

It only took a few more thrusts for me to reach the highest point and to see light behind my eyes. When my orgasm hit, I felt it all over my body and I clutched onto Jacob like a lifeline. Jacob went two more before he came and his grip on me became the tightest it'd been all night. When we were both spent, Jacob plopped on top of me and sucked on my neck for a moment. I sighed contentedly and ran my fingers through his hair.

"You enjoying your visit so far, Jacob?" Jacob chuckled and nodded his head.

"Best vacation I've ever had." Jacob brought his lips to mine in another kiss and smiled at me. "I didn't even get a chance to give you your flowers."

"Give them to me now." Jacob smiled, nodded his head, then kissed the tip of my nose before getting up and going to the flowers that had fallen to the floor. He came back with the bouquet of red roses in hand.

"Here are the flowers I promised you." I smiled and took them from him and held them to my chest so I could smell them.

"They're beautiful, Jacob, thank you." Jacob grinned.

"That pizza was a piece of heaven. Thanks for that."

"Next time, I'll send you an Italian meatball sub from Portillo's or something. Someone told me those are really good."

"Either that or just a plain old fashioned Italian sub. You know, those ones with roost beef in bread that they dunk in the juice from the meat?" I scrunched my nose.

"Sounds awful."

"It's not. It's fantastic."

"We'll get that while you're here, then. I doubt an Italian sub would travel well, even over night." Jacob shrugged.

"I'd eat it just because you sent it to me." I smiled and smelled the roses again.

"It's been such a long two weeks." Jacob nodded.

"It really has been." I giggled.

"Daddy told me about the eating of silver wear and plates." I laughed a little more and Jacob was fighting a smile, pretending to be mad.

"It doesn't happen that often." I rolled my eyes and crawled over to him with the roses still in hand.

"Well, seeing as that always happened when you were thinking of me, I don't anticipate that being a problem while you're here with me. Wouldn't you agree?" Jacob laughed a little and shook his head at me.

"Shut up, Nessie."

"I will not. And how dare you tell me to shut up Jacob William Black?" Jacob laughed a little more and came a little closer to my face.

"I'm just rude, I guess." I kept my face and tone teasingly serious as I answered.

"You most certainly are. Telling a young lady to shut up. Honestly, Jacob, where are your manners?"

"They went out the window when I came." I looked at Jacob wide eyed a moment before he started laughing and I laughed with him. "That was a bad joke, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was a funny bad joke. I will ask that you try to recuperate those lost manners before we go out in public. I can't have my husband acting like an animal in front of people other than me." Jacob grinned and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Nessie." Then he gave me a sweet kiss which I happily returned. His hands both came to my face while mine stayed on the roses. "I love you, Nessie."

"I love you too, Jacob. I missed you so much." Jacob nodded.

"I missed you too. Never more than a week. I promise. I'll be here again next weekend and the weekend after that, then the weekend after that too." I smiled and kissed his sweetly.

"You're damn straight you will." Jacob and I laughed together for a little while longer before Jacob and I kissed again.

He made it instantly passionate and took my roses away and placed them on the floor so he could get to me without a single barrier. I held him tightly and we stayed on the floor and made love again and again. Every tension we felt and every need was met in those repeated unions and I never wanted to let him go. I wished I could just keep him in my dorm and always have him here whenever I was done with school. But I would have to settle with just having him on the weekends for the next two years.


	26. Gay or European

**Gay or European?**

_Author's note: Before you start reading this, I would like to dedicate this chapter to a reviewer who asked me if Professor Del Toro is gay. Well, you can decide for yourself if he's gay or just exotic. I'm hoping everyone will get the joke that I have going through the fanfic. If not, let me know and I'll give you a link that makes it clear. And I know I'm being anal about this, but it's something that really bugs me to no end. Sometimes, there will be people that ask me questions about the fanfic and they're account is private, so I can't answer them back. A person who was signed on as confused asked me how Diego could be spending 600 years to 'get rid' of Filipe is he's a 2 year old newborn. Well, Filipe isn't a two year old newborn. He's about fifty years older than Diego and they both were born and raised in Spain during the 1400's. Filipe was changed fifty years before Diego and Diego was a Muslim Spaniard that refused to convert to Catholicism, so he was persecuted and tortured during the Spanish Inquisition. Anyway, Diego was castrated as one form of torture, the smell of blood attracted Filipe and he attacked Diego, monks tried to attack Filipe so he killed them. Diego started changing, so Filipe decided to take him home and 'adopt' him, kind of like a pet. After Diego became a vampire, he tried getting away from Filipe, but Filipe wouldn't leave him alone no matter what. Filipe formed this sort of idealistic opinion of Diego and thinks of Diego as his best friend and coven mate. Diego finds Filipe to be annoying and has wanted to be rid of him for six hundred years, the time since Filipe changed Diego into a vampire. And Filipe isn't two years old. He was thirty when he was changed and Diego was twenty five. If you want to hear more about this story, let me know and I'll add them into Aurora and you can read about them there. I hope that clears up any confusion that might have arose with my readers. Remember, I have no problem answering your questions. I only ask that if you're going to ask me a question, give me a way to email you so I can properly answer it instead of taking up room on a chapter. I won't bite, I promise. With that settled, please enjoy this little chapter that I'm dedicated the reviewer that I spoke of earlier. This is a quick little scene with Filipe and Diego and I really hope everyone gets the joke in case the title doesn't make it obvious enough. Please enjoy this little bit of comic relief that I think every story needs. And just to be clear, Nessie and Jacob aren't in this chapter. This is purely a non-sexual, foreign language office, comic relief. Please enjoy._

Diego was looking over the homework that his students had turned in that day. Aside from Renesmee Black, Jaime Ruedabaker, Carlos de la Luz, and Steven Michaels, it seemed like his students had no idea what the class was going over. He had a question on the homework that asked for the name of one of the most famous structures in Cordoba that was built by the Romans during their invasion and someone answered, 'The leaning tower of Pizza'. For starters, it was the leaning tower of PISA and that was in Pisa, Italy, not Spain.

As he read through more and more of the homework assignments, he started to see the appeal in coming to campus with a shotgun. Fewer stupid people. And Diego was a vampire, so it wasn't like the police would be able to get him for it, especially if he worked quickly at a speed that the cameras on campus couldn't pick up. And his fingerprints wouldn't be on the gun when he discarded it either. The dead didn't secrete the oils that the living did that left fingerprints.

This had become a daily routine with Diego. Every day, he would grade homework, and every day, he'd have far too many stupid students in his class that made him want to walk around the school with a gun and shoot every student and teacher at the school that pissed him off. Particularly the French teacher that was always hitting on him. The day was always made worse when he heard that musical call of his name that sounded like a chorus line entering the foreign language office.

"Diego!!" The entire office was now watching Filipe walk in and walk/dance over to Diego's desk where I was still grading papers. Diego growled under his breath and hid his face as if doing that would make Filipe go away.

"What, Filipe?" Filipe took a spot standing right next to Diego and spoke in his usual bone chillingly cheerful voice.

"What're you doing, Diego?"

"Nothing, Filipe. Just failing my students." Filipe laughed. Then to Diego's surprise and horror, Filipe pulled him in a big hug.

"You're such a funny guy, Diego. I'm sure your students are all the smartest in the world."

"I beg to differ, Filipe. And put me down you fucking moron." Filipe's face lit up even more and a shudder went down Diego's spine.

"By the way, Diego, I pulled some strings. You and I have parking spaces right next to each other!"

"Filipe, leave me alone, I need to work. Don't you have papers to grade?" Filipe shook his head and whispered to Diego like he was telling a secret.

"I have an assistant for that stuff, Diego." Diego was about to say something, but then there was suddenly a girl from one of his classes standing across from him at his desk.

"Professor Frefererro?" Diego punched Filipe off him and took a seat back at the desk.

"Yes, Miss Cox?" She looked nervous, which wasn't surprising. Renesmee Black was the first student Diego had ever had that wasn't scared of him. He figured that was because she was so used to vampires that it was second nature to her.

"Um, I wanted to ask you about my homework and why I got the grade I did."

"You need to ask?" The student held back a sneer that she very desperately wanted to make.

"I looked through the book and answered the questions properly."

"No, you didn't. If you had, you wouldn't have gotten a C. I was being kind. Your conjugations are off and several misspellings. I have a hard time you even copied from the book with poor spelling like this."

"But at least I got the history right. Isn't that the point?"

"Miss Cox, I don't care how well you know this history if you don't speak Spanish. How long have you been in Spanish?"

"Since junior high." I nodded my head.

"And yet you're still making mistakes that Spanish two year olds don't make. I've told the class repeatedly that if you need help to go to tutoring. I've called the office and a handful of the three hundred students that I have actually go. And I'm afraid, Miss Cox, that you're not one of them. I suggest you either go to tutoring like you desperately need or save yourself the stab to your GPA and drop the class."

The student took back her homework with a perplexed look on her face and walked out of the office with a look of defeat on her face. The other teachers in the office watched her walk out of the office and then looked at Frefererro in stunned surprise. Del Toro lost the smile in his voice though he still sounded cheerful.

"Dick move, Diego. Dick move."

"Shut up and go back to your office, Filipe." Filipe smiled again and patted Diego's head.

"Sure thing, Diego. Crush some dreams, big boy." Then Filipe left the office with his usual smile on his face. When he was gone, the other teachers gathered around each other and started talking.

"Is it just me or does he get more and more gay as time passes by?" Diego rolled his eyes. The teachers had this conversation just about every day.

"He's not gay. He's just effeminate." The other teacher rolled his eyes.

"Is that what women are calling it these days? Whenever there's a clearly gay man that she thinks is hot, he isn't gay, he's just effeminate?"

"Stop saying that."

"Oh come one, he's gay. He's too pretty to be straight. Same thing with Frefererro. They're both lovers, I'm telling you."

Normally, Diego ignored the people when they talked, but this was the first time that Diego had ever been brought into this conversation. He cracked his stapler in his hand and got everyone's attention for a moment. Diego didn't say anything to them. He just held the crushed stapler in his hand staring at the F graded paper in front of him. When they had their fill of looking at him and they turned back to each other, Diego brought his hand over the garbage at his desk and let go of the dust that had once been his stapler.

"I mean, he wears silk shirts, pointy shoes, I swear he's wearing fruity perfume. How can you not think he's gay?" Another female teacher spoke.

"He has that condescending smirk that every straight man has. And he's always flirting with all the women here."

"He's not flirting with you girls. He's complimenting your outfits in detail. Fag." Another female teacher spoke.

"Not to mention how muscular he is. He must go to a gym. And I saw him wearing silk translucent socks."

"Exactly." Then another teacher who'd previously not been talking added his opinion.

"Has it ever occurred to any of you that he might just be European? He's from Spain isn't he?"

"You've clearly never been to Spain. You'd know how faggy Europeans are if you went to Spain every year with the exchange students like you're supposed to, Mr. Chandler." Mr. Chandler spoke in a harsh tone.

"I'm never going to Spain! They have blood sucking butterflies in Spain." They all gave him a weird look. Then the French teacher, Ms. Phillips, spoke.

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as a blood sucking butterfly. If there was, everyone in the world would know about."

"And I suppose you would know, wouldn't you? I mean, you've only been to Spain never."

"You went once!"

"And that was enough for me to know I'll never go again. Give me Mexico and South America over those cocky Spaniards and their blood drinking butterflies any day."

"They're actually moths." They all looked at Diego who had spoken to them for, seemingly, the first time since he'd started working at Northwestern.

"They're moths?" Diego nodded at Ms. Phillips.

"Yes, they're moths. And they only drink blood from dead animals, so they're more scavengers than anything else. You have as much chance of one of those attacking you as you do of Godzilla raising from the depths of hell and tormenting Japan." The Japanese teacher, Musaharu, who had been sitting in the corner gave Diego a dirty look. Diego was about to go back about his business when the teacher that started the conversation in the first place, Mr. Carles, changed the subject.

"Don't you and Filipe live together?" Diego's attention was immediately back.

"Excuse me?"

"You would know if he's gay. Are you two lovers?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business, Carles. We aren't lovers. I'd sooner behead him than have sex with him. And I happen to have a wife. You'd all know that if you took the time to rummage through my desk like you do with everyone else."

"I never saw a ring on your finger."

"I don't like wearing rings. They annoy me. And my wife wears her ring, so that's all that matters."

Diego did, in fact, have a mate. Her name was Ofelia and she was the love of his life. She tolerated his grumpy mood and always made him feel better whenever he was mad, which was usually every day. That was why they went to Argentina every summer. Ofelia was from Buenos Aires and she often got homesick. Especially since they started living in Illinois and she was surrounded by Hispanic students at the high school she worked at. The only downfall was that she thought Filipe was funny and was a joy to have around.

"You never talk to us, Diego. It's not like we have that basic contact with you to find out such things about you and Filipe. But is he or isn't he gay?" Diego rolled his eyes.

"I don't even fucking know. He tells me about a lover he has named Pat and I don't know if it's short for Patricia, Patrick, Patricio, Patrice, or any other variation that would yield such a nickname. He wears effeminate clothing and is infuriatingly cheerful and he's European. Come to your own conclusion and stop wasting time talking about this stupid stuff."

Having had enough of the people in the office, Diego picked up his papers and walked out to make his way to the garage and get his car. Diego and Filipe always drove to school early so they could get those garage parking spots before any of the other teachers and so they wouldn't have to walk out into the sun. Chicago had a good handful of overcast days, but those were usually only during fall and winter. Even then, the sun would peek through the clouds on occasion, making it difficult for either of them to go outside without shining.

Diego walked quickly, though slow enough to seem normal, through the hallways and buildings so he could make it to the garage. But while walking, he passed the math office and Filipe saw him. Filipe grinned from ear to ear and followed after Diego.

"Diego!"

"What, Filipe?"

"What are you leaving so soon for? It's only five."

"What's your point?"

"Don't you have a class at six?"

"And?" Filipe grinned and laughed before patting Diego, harshly, on the back.

"You're a hoot, Diego. I can't believe more students don't love you."

"It might have something to do with the harsh way I grade."

"Probably. You are kind of a dick grader. It's a miracle you still have a job with all the drops and bad grades you've had."

"It takes a special kid to pass my class." Filipe grinned and bounced when the thought popped into his head.

"Like Renesmee Black. She's a calculus wiz, that girl. Half the time, I think she's already five steps ahead of the class."

"It wouldn't surprise me. She always knows the material during my class. I'm going to leave for the night now."

"Don't you want to stay and get some dinner before going home?"

"Filipe, I've told you once and I've told you a thousand times. I hate hunting with you. You always feel bad for them and you drag out our feeding time and it pisses me off something awful."

"But Diego, everything pisses you off."

"Not everything, Filipe. Just anything you do. Do you understand how much you annoy me, Filipe?"

"Only a little bit I'm sure, Diego."

"It's more like a lot."

"What could possibly annoy you about me?"

"Oh god, where do I start?" Diego pretended to think a moment. "Your huge chinned face, huge nose, your neediness for hugs, not to mention all those manly drunken humans that you chug. How you consider me a friend never ceases to perplex, and for the love of God, stop telling me when you have nasty sex." Filipe grinned and clapped his hands.

"That rhymed, Diego!" Diego was about to speak yet again, but stuttered on his words a moment before he sighed. "And now that you mention it, Diego, Pat was in town the other day and we went hunting and covered ourselves in blood and licked it off each other."

"You see, Filipe, that's what I'm talking about. You tell me about this stuff that I don't want to know about and I'm forced to tolerate your daydreaming and this idealistic view you have of me. It makes me suicidal, Filipe." Filipe frowned.

"That part didn't rhyme at all." Diego was shaking from anger now and was trying to think of anything to say that would make him shut up, but nothing came to mind.

"No, Filipe, it didn't. I didn't intend for it to rhyme."

"You should've made it rhyme, Diego. You could make it a song, like they did on Scrubs."

"I don't watch crap, Filipe."

"But Diego, crap come out the other end." Diego stood before Filipe with a stunned look on his face. When he finally spoke, it was a monotone voice.

"I'm leaving now, Filipe." Without another word, Diego left as fast as he could and went straight to his car when he reached the garage.


	27. The Newcomer

**The Newcomer**

**JPOV**

Nessie and I fell asleep that night in each other's arms. When I woke up, she wasn't there. I was surprised at first, but then I noticed that her bathrobe was gone and so was her little carrier of toiletries. I looked at the time and groaned. It was nine in the morning. It was too early to wake up on a Saturday. So I turned onto my stomach and tried to fall back asleep. I heard the door open and looked up, but it wasn't Nessie. It was a girl that was in one of the pictures that was on the other desk in the room.

"Are you Samantha?" The girl nodded. She had stringy straight brown hair that went down to her shoulder and was a little boney looking in my opinion. The shape of her face reminded me a little of Esme, but the face was something different entirely.

"Yeah, that's me. You're Jacob?" I nodded.

"Yeah, that's me." I was relieved I was covered by Nessie's blank at the moment.

"I'll be out in a minute. I just need to get a different shirt. Figures the one I took with me had a huge stain on it that I didn't realize was there." I laughed a little and it was heavy with sleep.

"Yeah, it figures." She continued talking casually as she walked over to the closet to get a new shirt.

"So how long have you and Nessie been married?"

"Since July 14th. It's September now, so two months on the fourteenth."

"Awesome. I'm surprised you two are okay with being apart like this, Nessie here at college and you at home in Washington and all." I nodded against the pillow.

"We're making it work."

"That's good news. Has she told you about her plan to graduate from college in two years?" I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, she told me. And I'm thrilled to death about it."

"I'm sure you are. Well, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah. Maybe when I'm properly dressed." Samantha laughed and nodded her head while opening the door.

"See you later." I lifted my hand up in a slight wave.

"Later." Samantha smiled and waved back before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

When she was gone, I turned my head on the pillow so I was looking at the wall and tried to get a little more sleep. Nessie probably wouldn't be back from her shower for several minutes, her always feeling dirty and all. It was no time before I was drifting off again. I woke up when I felt something warm and gentle on my back. I suddenly smelled Nessie and opened my eyes, seeing her face resting on the pillow next to me.

"Morning, Jacob. How'd you sleep?"

"Great. It was the best sleep I'd had in weeks. How about you?" Nessie smiled and kissed me.

"Best sleep I'd had in weeks." Nessie ran her fingers through my hair once and I pulled her closer to me and kissed her again. It was a soft kiss. She pulled away before I could make it passionate. "The guy's bath is down the hall to your left." I laughed a little to myself as she smiled and rolled my eyes.

"That was forward." Nessie giggled.

"I know. But we have a fun day ahead of us and I want to start it out as clean as possible." Then Nessie grabbed a hold of my shoulders and pulled me with her so that I was on top of her, then she rolled some more so that I almost landed on the floor. I managed to land on my feet. "I think we should get you some clothes while we're out today. I can't have you wearing sweats everywhere we go."

"All I have are sweats now. No store would let me in dressed like this."

"Jacob, it's a store. They're not allowed to turn you away unless you're buck naked, which you aren't. Those no law against men being half naked in public."

"Then why do you want to bother getting me clothes while I'm here?"

"Because though it isn't against the law for a man to walk around half naked, it is rude and inappropriate. And I'd rather you had some clean clothes. Now go take a shower and we'll leave as soon as you're clean and dressed." Then Nessie gave me a quick peck and hopped out of bed to go to her closet and get dressed.

I smiled and rolled my eyes and put on my sweats when Nessie tossed them to me. Then she handed me some body wash, disregarding that her body wash was a peach smell and a towel before making me go to the shower. I went down the hall until I saw the room that was clearly labeled as the guy's bath and walked in. There weren't too many people there, and none of them thought anything of me, so I was glad about that. Then again, they probably didn't know everyone yet, so they wouldn't know that I wasn't actually a student anyway.

I picked a shower stall that was empty and washed myself off as fast as I could. I ignored the guys talking to each other and banged on the side of the stall when a guy next door to me started singing bad Bruce Springsteen songs. I hit the side wall three times and made my voice as intimidating as possible. I was sure I wasn't the only one annoyed by the singing.

"Dude, shut up, you suck."

"Fuck you, man. You don't own the place."

"I have to use the place, as do hundreds of other guys and none of us want to hear you sing." My statement was followed by a string of agreements from other guys in the bathroom.

"Yeah, dude. If you want to sing in your own bathroom, no one cares, but don't sing in a fucking public bath and make us fucking listen to you, tard."

"Fuck you guys, I can sing in here if I want!" That argument kept going on and on until the guy in the stall next to me who'd been singing came out of the stall and started a fight with the other guys.

I groaned and shook my head, staying in the stall until everything died down. Oh, the many reasons I never went to college. A GED wasn't bad. When the fight finally died down, I finished cleaning off the body wash and dried off before putting on my sweats and walking out of the stall, running the towel through my hair. There were a few people still in the bathroom, but no one looked at me as the guy that started the men's room fight. If I didn't know Nessie could hear all the commotion and the guys talking on their way back to their dorms, I'd never tell her about this.

I made my way back to Nessie's room with all her soaps in hand and knocked on the door when I got there. When Nessie opened the door, she gave me a lecturing smile, having heard everything that'd happened. She took my hand and pulled me into the room. Then she closed the door and looked at me with that same smile.

"You started a fight?"

"What makes you think it was me? I wasn't the only guy taking a shower at the time."

"Jacob, one of the guys that passed my dorm said a tan guy with spiky black hair with fruity body wash started the fight. Unless there was another tan spiky haired guy with fruity body wash, you're really the only suspect." I sighed.

"Alright, baby, I admit that I technically started it, but I didn't actually fight. I simply asked a guy very nicely to stop singing."

"'Dude, shut up, you suck'. That's not very nice, Jacob."

"It's nicer than what the other guys said. And it was Bruce Springsteen, Nessie. I hate that music. It sucks."

"You like Thunder Road."

"Marginally." Nessie giggled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not mad at you, Jacob. Just try not to start a fight with anyone in the dorm, okay. Especially over something as silly as bad taste in music."

"It's a public area Nessie and I'm entitled to express when something in that public setting is displeasing." Nessie kept smiling at me a moment and I tried looking innocent. Finally, Nessie said something with her sweetest voice.

"I suppose you're right, love. Now put on the shirt that's on my bed." I looked at her bed and noticed a guy's shirt.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I asked Samantha if she would lend me one of her boyfriend's shirts. Don't worry, it's clean. I checked."

I looked at the shirt a moment before putting it on. It was a white L.A. Ink T-shirt with an elaborate tattoo dragon going along the shirt. I smelled it quickly before putting it on. It reeked of old spice cologne, but if Nessie could tolerate it, so could I.

"There we go. I would've asked him to lend a pair of pants, but his stuff wouldn't fit you. It's too short."

"Most men are." Nessie giggled and nodded.

"That and he's a 29 waste. I mean, maybe it would fit a little, but you wouldn't be able to breathe."

"With a 29 waste, I'd look like a tall version of Erkle. For god's sake, Nessie, I'm a thirty two."

"That's why I didn't ask for a pair of pants. We'll just get you something while we're out. This'll be my chance to get you some really fancy stuff."

"What do I need fancy stuff for, Nessie? Does college have proms?" Nessie smacked my back and hugged me from behind and clawed at the shirt.

"No, Jacob. I just really like it when you're in a dress shirt. They fit you really well, especially when you're wearing dark wash jeans and a nice belt and pair of black shoes. You clean up nicely, love." I chuckled and turned so Nessie and I were facing each other and I wrapped my arms around her waist and hoisted her up so she was facing me directly.

"Will Edward be alright with you buying me new clothes with that debit card he gave you just for college?"

"He'll be fine. Daddy said I could use it for other things too, but I shouldn't make a habit of it. So I won't. I'll just buy you enough clothes to last you for the two or three days that you'll spend with me. That's fair enough."

"Normally, yes, but this is down town Chicago. The only place I can think of that's more expensive than Chicago is New York City." Nessie shrugged.

"New York and Chicago are obnoxious, Jacob, I can't help that." Nessie and I shared a quick laugh before we shared a quick kiss and she pushed her hands against my chest telling me to let her down.

I put her back on her feet and she kept a hold of my hand as she grabbed her purse, ID, and keys and walked us out of her room. She said hi to a few people while we were walking out the door and had a quick conversation with a girl that was evidently in her Spanish history class. I was going to tune out, but I heard her bring up the leech professor.

"I'm serious, Nessie, he's fucking Castro. I go in there to ask a question and he shoots me down. I'm totally dropping that class. That'll show him." Nessie smiled kindly.

"I understand how you feel, but I doubt that dropping the class will be any skin off his back. He's just strict because he wants the best results."

"Nessie, I asked him why I got the grade I did, and he had the audacity to tell me that he was being kind by giving me a C." Nessie shrugged.

"It's better than a D or an F." The girl shrugged.

"So what did you get on that assignment? You probably got an A." Nessie smiled shyly, which I thought was odd. She was never shy.

"If it makes you feel better, I got an A-." I looked at Nessie surprised.

"Why'd you get an A-?" Nessie smiled at me.

"I misspelled someone's name is all. And he wasn't mad about it. He just told me to remember to double check my facts before turning in homework."

While Nessie talked to the girl a little longer, I looked at her a moment and brought my arm around her shoulders. I really didn't like that she was talking openly with these professors. I didn't care if they weren't a genuine threat to her. It made me uneasy knowing she was in such close proximity with vampires that I didn't know, hell a vampire in general. Nessie politely ended the conversation with the girl and took me the rest of the way to her car. When we were both in and she was backing out, I brought up my concerns.

"Nessie?"

"Yeah, Jacob?" Then Nessie turned her head forward and put the car in drive to get out of the parking lot.

"About those professors of yours that are vampires.." Nessie sighed and interrupted me.

"Jacob, I know you don't like me talking to them. And don't worry, I don't talk to them on a regular basis. I only talk to them on an academic level. I talk to Del Toro on slightly friendlier terms, but that's because he thinks I'm interesting."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, he loves that I'm doing so well in his class, and he likes that I'm a half vampire. And I'm not going to lie to you, Jacob. When you forget that he's a vampire, he'd really funny. He's obnoxiously flamboyant, but I think he's really naturally like that, and he's always happy about something. Hell, just yesterday, he was excited because he got a parking space right next to Frefererro, my Spanish History teacher."

"He sounds like a toddler."

"He can seem like that sometimes. But he's a fun teacher. And he makes calculus fun. I think even you would have fun in that class."

"If you say so, Nessie. Just avoid getting too friendly with them. I don't know anything about them and I don't want to worry about them hurting you or anything. I worry enough as it is." Nessie smiled and reached over to kiss me when we reached a stop light.

"That's sweet that you care so much, Jacob. I love you."

"I love you too, Nessie." We shared one more kiss before she turned her attention back to the road and kept driving.

As I figured we would, Nessie took us right to the magnificent mile. She picked a parking space somewhere where she wouldn't get a ticket and took me to the Original Levi's store. As soon as we were in, she took me to the men's wear section and started looking for pants. She went straight for the tall 32 jeans and looked for ones that she liked. I figured, with Nessie, she had a hell of a lot better taste than I did, so whatever she picked was fine with me. As long as she didn't put me in a dress and stilettos, I was fine.

"Let's try these one, then we'll look for shirts to go with these."

"Nessie, how many did you grab?" Nessie shrugged innocently.

"Twelve." I felt a stroke come on.

"Nessie, aren't these jeans fifty bucks?" Nessie shook her head.

"75." Then I felt my arm shake. I grew up with Billy always telling me that if a pair of pants were over ten bucks, they weren't worth it. As far as I was concerned, 75 was way too much to pay for jeans. "What's wrong?"

"Let's just stick with one if they're 75 dollars. That's a bit pricey, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, love, don't be silly. We aren't buying all twelve. I just want to see them on you so I know which pants look best on you."

"How many were you planning to buy?"

"Four." And the stroke was coming again.

"Nessie, that's three hundred dollars." Nessie sighed.

"Jacob, I know that you hate spending a lot of money on clothes, but remember that this isn't any money out of your pocket and let me get you something."

"Technically, Nessie, if we apply the rule of, 'what's mine is yours', then it's my money too. And I say I don't want you spending that much on me when it's just pants." Nessie gave me a stern look.

"It's daddy's money, Jacob. And he gave it to me to spend it on what I need. You need jeans and shirts, so that's what I'm buying."

After the intense stern look she gave me, I didn't want to argue with her. This wasn't the time or place to argue about it anyway. And arguing about it would just ruin our time together, so I held my tongue and tried on all the pants she gave me.

By the time I'd tried on all the pants, there were six pairs that Nessie really, really liked and thought I should have. That meant an added 150 dollars for the original estimated price. And this wasn't including the shirts she still wanted to pick out. After I tried on all the jeans, we looked through the store for some shirts that I needed. She only liked one shirt that they had, and it was a grey shirt with a bunch of cursive writing on it that was hard to follow because most of it was cut off.

We paid for all the pants and the one shirt when she was done looking, then went to an American Eagle Outfitters to look for shirts. They didn't seem to have much more than Levi from what I could tell, but evidently, they had a lot more things that Nessie liked. Namingly, dress shirts. What possessed her to think I looked good in dress shirts was beyond me. I felt like fluff when I wore those or like I was trying to impress people when I really wasn't.

"I think this one would be really nice. This cream color would contrast with your skin beautifully."

"Sometimes I get the feeling you're trying to turn me into a flower, Nessie." Nessie rolled her eyes and gently smacked my chest.

"Jacob, if I wanted to turn you into a flower, I'm put you in a red dress with tulle underneath and make you wear green hair pieces." I laughed and tried to hug her, but she weaseled away from me to look at more shirts.

"Are you mad at me, Nessie?"

"A little at the moment." I sighed and held her from behind and rested my head on hers.

"Why are you mad at me, baby?"

"Because Jacob, every time I try to do something like this for you, you complain that it's too expensive. It makes me feel bad about doing something for you and I don't like it." I smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"You know how I am, Nessie. I never used to have the money spend on stuff like this. We always bought what we needed and that was about it."

"What about your car building hobby? I'm sure that's always been expensive." I nodded.

"I always kept that as cheap as possible. I always looked in a dump for parts before trying to buy them."

"So should we look through the dump for new clothes and hope we find something usable before we go shopping for clothes at a decent store?" I sighed.

"That's not what I meant, Nessie. I've always been taught to be cautious with money and frankly, that's done really good for us since I was little."

"Jacob, I'm not saying you need to spend money like Donald Trump. I'm just saying if I decide I want to get you some nice new clothes, don't make a big deal about it." I hugged Nessie a little tighter, hoping this would be the end of the argument.

"Alright, Nessie. I'll stop."

"Thanks, Jacob. Now tell me what you think of this." Nessie held up an off white long sleeved sweater shirt that had a slight v neck.

"You want to put me in a sweater?"

"Just for when it starts getting cold."

"I'm a standing body temp. of 108 degrees, Nessie. What cold?"

"I'm serious, Jacob, it gets cold in Illinois. Colder than Washington in winter. And even if you aren't really cold, I want you wearing it so that it won't look weird that you're walking around in the snow with a tank top. That's the only reason I ever wear sweaters. And we'll go ahead and get you a heavy coat when it starts getting cold."

"A heavy coat, Nessie?"

"If I have to wear one, Jacob, so do you." I smiled, rolled my eyes at her, and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Nessie."

"I love you too, Jacob."

Nessie turned her head and we had a quick kiss before Nessie went right back to looking at shirts. I avoided looking at any of the price tags and just tried on the shirts she picked out for me. She chose a lot more shirts than I think was really needed, but Nessie liked them, so that was fine. Nessie took me to a Portilo's after we were done shopping and I couldn't remember a single time I was happier to eat an Italian beef sandwich. Nessie didn't get anything and just rested her head on my shoulder while I ate.

When we got back to campus, we went to her dorm and played a few Nintendo games while I had some fun with Medusa. I wanted to play with Vicky, but I was convinced she'd try to bite me if I played with her. I tried not to laugh whenever Nessie's character died. Just like when she was younger, she still got really frustrated whenever her character died.

"I can't believe this. Why does this game hate me?" I chuckled and reached over to kiss the top of her head.

"It doesn't hate you, Nessie. Mario Brawl just isn't a game you're good at."

"How can anyone be good at this game? You lose track of your character so easily." I shrugged.

"I never really had a problem. I could never win against Embry, though. I could never understand how he did it. I mean yeah, Mew Two is an awesome character to play as, but he's far from the best character here. I mean, Kirby can swallow people whole." Nessie smiled and kissed my chin.

"And evidently, Peach can't do a whole lot." I shrugged.

"Peach is alright. I like to play as Bowser, though. He's the best. Although he makes his minions' job a lot harder than it needs to be. Green Cooper Troopers walk off cliffs, the Bullet only hurts Mario when he jumps up, Boo can only chase Mario when his back is turned, the Chomping canon can never get to Mario because he's on a chain, there's a long list of things. You would think Bowser would try to make it more difficult."

"No one would ever get passed the levels if it was harder. It's hard enough with those stupid fire sticks of doom and those large pits of lava and empty space and stuff."

"People play Resident Evil 4 and that game's a huge pain in the ass. It's fun and all, but that camera pan is awful. And you have to do things just right or you get your head chainsawed off by a crazy zombie."

"It's also a really scary game."

"How would you know? You've never played it." Nessie shrugged.

"I had dinner with Samantha and Jared and the subject of Resident Evil came up. Evidently, Jared is a huge fan of those games."

"Ah. He's right, though, it's a pretty scary game. It was a lot of fun though."

"How did you and the others ever find time to play all these video games when you're so outdoorsy?"

"We made time. And we weren't really video game junkies, we just played a game when it came out and it looked really good. But other than that, we were outdoorsy boys." Nessie smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I shudder to think how our kids will be."

"Why do you say that?" Nessie shrugged.

"I don't know. I just picture us having boys and they'll stay out late at night playing and only come home to get an axe and a flashlight." I laughed and shook my head while Nessie crawled into my lap and rested her head against my chest.

"I don't doubt it. Billy would do that with me, so I'll probably do that with our boys." Nessie smiled and kissed my neck.

"Alright, but I want them to have cell phones on hand just in case something happens. I don't care how old or young they are, I want to be in contact with them."

"Even if they're four?"

"Jacob, I don't want our kids alone in the woods when they're four."

"Nessie, they're part vampire and werewolf. What could possibly happen to them?"

"I don't know, Jacob, but I'd rather not risk something happening to them." I sighed and kissed the back of Nessie's neck.

"If you say so, Nessie. I'll always have them in my sight, baby." Nessie smiled and turned her head to look at me.

"That's all I ask, Jacob."

Later that night after several hours of Mario Brawl, I told Nessie I was getting hungry, so she took me to the building next door where the cafeteria was. Nessie and I waited in line and she grabbed a tray for me and I picked some food that sounded good. Once I had the food, Nessie paid for it with her ID and we walked over to a table that was completely empty. I looked at my food and all the other people and I thought of something I wasn't sure I wanted to bring up, but I knew I had to.

"Hey, Nessie?" Nessie looked at me with a smile.

"Yeah, Jacob?"

"How are you doing as far as….you know…hunting is concerned?" Nessie didn't lose her smile, but she did become serious.

"I'm not very close to a wooded area. It would take a while. I'm living off of sauerkraut and capers for the time being." I sighed.

"That's not good, Nessie. Can you drive to another part of Chicago?" Nessie shook her head.

"The closest woods are all the way near the Wisconsin border."

"How about I take you hunting tomorrow? I'm sure you're parched. That would explain why you were biting so hard last night." Nessie smiled widely and took my free hand in hers and held it in her lap.

"I'd like that, Jacob. I could really use some blood." I smiled back and she reached her face closer to me and we shared a quick kiss before I turned my attention to my food. As I started eating, two people sat across from us. I recognized the girl as Samantha, but the guy I didn't know. Nessie smiled at them.

"Hey Samantha, Jared." They smiled back.

"Hey Nessie." Then Samantha looked at me. "Hey Jacob. It's nice to see you in pants. Are you giving me back that shirt before you go to bed tonight?" Nessie and I laughed a little with her and I nodded.

"Yeah. Nessie bought me new clothes today, so I won't need your boyfriend's shirts anymore." Samantha grinned.

"He'll be happy to hear that." When Samantha was done talking, Jared spoke next.

"So you're Jacob, Nessie's husband, right?" I nodded and we shook hands.

"Yeah, that's me. Are you a friend of Nessie's?" He nodded.

"Yeah, we're neighbors. She always lends me quarters for laundry."

"That's nice to hear." Then Jared turned his attention to Nessie.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" Nessie shook her head.

"I already ate. I couldn't possibly eat anymore." Jared shrugged and got back to his dinner.

"Oh Nessie, I almost forgot. My parents are coming to visit on the parent visit weekend. Are your parents coming?"

"Probably. When is that, this November?" Samantha nodded.

"Yeah, sometime in early November. Then we get two weeks off for Thanksgiving."

"Alright. Are your parents staying in a hotel? I'm pretty sure mine are." Samantha shrugged.

"Probably not. I think they'll drive over and stay for the whole day, then go home. They can always come back the next day. It's only an hour long drive from the northwest suburbs."

Nessie and Samantha kept talking about future plans while I ate dinner. I only spoke when asked and Jared and I didn't really talk much. We talked a little longer after I finished my dinner before Nessie and I finally left. As we were walking back to Nessie's dorm hand in hand, Nessie looked at me with a smile.

"Yeah, Nessie?" She grinned wider.

"What do you say we go hunting tonight? I can get some food and you can catch up with the pack and get some sleep tomorrow before you have to go." I smiled and nodded my head.

"That sounds like a good idea."

Nessie and I hurried back to her dorm so I could change into my sweats and she got her car keys and we got in her car and started driving. We picked a highway that was going north and didn't stop until we found an exit to a town that had plenty of wilderness to hunt in. It wasn't nearly as big as the woods back home, but that was fine. It would suffice. Nessie parked her car at an apartment complex so she wouldn't get ticketed and we ran as fast as we could to the woods.

Nessie wasn't quite as fast as a vampire, but she was definitely faster than the average human. When we got into the woods, I took off my sweats, relieved that I didn't have to worry about her seeing me naked anymore, and shifted into my wolf and kept following her into the woods. As I changed, Quil, Embry, Seth, Paul, and Jared's voices filled my head. Quil was the first to talk to me.

_Hey, Jacob. How's Chicago treating you?_

_It's been pretty good. Nessie made me go shopping today, but that's not so bad. You wouldn't believe what these people have the audacity to charge for jeans._ I thought the price in my head and they all gasped. Paul was the one to lecture.

_75 dollars?! Are you out of your mind?! Who pays that much for one pair of jeans?_

_They were good quality._

_For 75 bucks, they better be made out of fucking gold._ I rolled my eyes and Seth came to my defense.

_It's just something women consider worth spending a lot of money on. Hell, Alyssa will willingly pay over a hundred dollars for a blouse. I tell her not to spend that much money, but she just tells me its disposable income and to stop whining about it. Man, if I didn't love her so much._ Jared spoke next.

_That's the beauty of having a wife that's a hair dresser. She gets discounts from just about every store in Forks because she doesn't hair for most of the women in town. One time, I got thirty percent off on a fishing rode because the guy's wife was so happy with her perm. _I was listening to the guys when I heard Nessie start talking to me.

"Jacob, how is everyone? Are they good?" I nodded my head and gave her my wolfy grin that I knew she loved. Nessie smiled. "That's good to hear. Tell them I said hi." I nodded my head and followed after Nessie while she looked for a tasty cougar or bear.

_Tell her we said hi too when you get the chance._ I mentally nodded at Seth.

_Yeah, I will. So has anything new happened?_ They all shook their heads and Quil answered me.

_Nothing new as of now. We had a vampire pass through her yesterday, but it was no one the Cullens new and we chased them out of Washington. I doubt we'll see that guy again._

_That's good news. Keep up the good work, guys. I'm making my way back tomorrow night, so I'll be there to help for the last few hours of patrol._ Paul laughed a little arrogantly.

_Don't worry about it, Jacob. Have the alone time with Nessie. I know how newlyweds like to have their fun. I remember when me and Rachael got married._ I interrupted him before he could finish. He was thinking about it and it sent a chill down my spine.

_God damn it, Paul, shut up about you and my sister. I've never seen my sister naked and I never want to. What you and my sister do is never to enter my head, is that clear? That's an order from me as the pack leader._

_You're telling me to never think of my wife?_

_I'm telling you not to think of her in indecent ways when I'm listening to what's in your head. I don't need to know about two, two, I'm gon' undress you, then three, three, you gon' undress me, and then four, four, we gon' freak some more._ Everyone laughed a little and Seth started humming the song to himself. _Seth, stop singing that song._

_What? It's catchy. I'll admit it's vulgar, but it's really catchy._

_That's not the point. You're encouraging my brother-in-law to think dirty thoughts about my sister and I don't like it._ Paul rolled his eyes.

_Right, Jacob. You can think about you and Nessie going at it all you want on patrol, but the minute I start missing Rachael and think about her, you bark at me and tell me I can't._

_You can't while I'm here and that's orders from the tribal leader. Now stop thinking about my sister!_

"Jacob?" I looked at Nessie when she glanced at me while we were running. "Is everything okay? You look mad." I shook my head and nuzzled her, letting her know nothing was wrong. I kept my face in her chest and she scratched my ears while I groaned. She giggled and scratched a little harder. "You're such a dog sometimes, you know that, Jacob?" I only nodded at her and heard Paul's voice in my head.

_You see, that's exactly what I'm talking about! You're being a hypocrite, Jacob, and you know it._

_Shut up, Paul. Nessie's scratching my ears and I'm trying to enjoy myself._ Everyone laughed a little at me and Paul arguing and Paul roared in my head.

_Fine, do it. But mark my words, Jacob. As soon as I get home, I'm nuzzling Rachael like there's no tomorrow and I'm making you listen to everything that goes through my head._

_Paul, to do that, you'd have to wait until morning, and I don't plan to be on patrol that long._

_Who said anything about morning, baby bro? _I growled a little at Paul, but Nessie heard it and stopped scratching my ears. I looked up at her concerned and she looked just as concerned as me.

"Jacob, is something wrong? Was I scratching too hard?" I shook my head and nuzzled her lovingly again. When Nessie was scratching my ears again, Paul came back.

_And it won't be just Rachael's chest I nuzzle either. I'm nuzzling everything, and I mean everything._

_God damn it, Paul, I said no! What I say goes, and I say don't do that! I don't order you guys to do much, so I'd like it if you followed one of the few orders I gave you._

Paul mentally made a face at me, but otherwise didn't say anything more. Nessie scratched my ears a little longer before she smelled something she liked and we followed after it. It wasn't a bear, but it was a huge deer and that was certainly nothing to sneer at. She caught the deer and had her fill while I listened to the pack, making sure there was nothing going on that we needed to worry about.

When Nessie was done, we ran around a little longer until she found another deer and had her fill of that. When she was finished, we ran back the way we came and I shifted back and got back into my sweats and we walked back to her car. Nessie unlocked her car and we got in, getting ready to go back. But when we were both in the car, Nessie didn't start the car or put on her seatbelt. Instead, she undid my seatbelt that I'd put on and maneuvered in her seat until she was straddling my lap and had her hands on my shoulders.

"Nessie?" She smiled and kissed me. I didn't push her back and wrapped my arms around her and breathed her in. She ended the kiss with the same smile.

"We'll both be exhausted when we get back. And we're as alone as can be out here. I thought we could take advantage of the time." I smiled back at her and she brought her lips back to mine in another kiss.

Neither of us bothered with foreplay this time. We just wanted each other. Nessie and I eagerly took off each other's clothes while we kissed passionately. We took our lips away only when Nessie needed to pull her shirt up over her head. When that was off, our lips were joined again and she ran her nails over my skin, making me tremble.

My hands went straight to her butt and I kept her close to me and squeezed tightly whenever she did something with her tongue. We kissed each other with our hands wondering all over for at least twenty minutes. When Nessie couldn't wait anymore, she maneuvered herself so she could take off her jeans and panties and took me in her hand and forced me inside her, all without taking her lips away from mine.

When I was in, my mind went completely blank. I loved that. This was my favorite place in the whole world to be. My hands went back to her hips and she moved with my hands starting at a nice, steady pace. As she moved on me, she moaned my names against her lips and pulled at my hair. Hearing my name like this from her was the sweetest sound in the world. In a weird way, it made me feel needed and I liked that. I liked that she needed me as much as I needed her.

Several minutes went by and Nessie and I were groaning in pleasure together and saying each other's names breathlessly and close to each other's ear. As we went along, I felt stronger in a sense and my world was spinning out of control. When she came undone and crashed on me, she bit down on my shoulder and I held her tighter as I came with her. After several seconds when our high was gone, Nessie fell and rested her head against my shoulder.

"I love you, Jacob. So much."

I repeated the words to her again in Quileute and she smiled and kissed me again. With that simple kiss, I made love to Nessie again, wanting to savor this moment. Any moment I heard Nessie tell me she loved me was the most memorable moment of my life. I wished I could remember every time she said it.

When we came for the last time, I pulled out of her and we rested together for a moment before Nessie reluctantly got dress and started the car back up. I got my sweats back on and put on my seatbelt while Nessie pulled out of the space and we took off back for Chicago. It was close to three in the morning when we got back. Nessie's bedroom window was already open luckily, so she held onto me while I jumped onto the tree and through her window.

As soon as we were back inside, Nessie and I fell into bed in each other's arms and fell fast asleep. We didn't wake up again until two in the afternoon. Nessie flattered me and didn't even bother taking a shower like she usually did. She stayed with me and we talked for several hours. We talked about her school, I told her how work was going, she asked me about Leah and I told her she was good.

Leah wasn't on patrol last night, but she would be on patrol tonight. She's back with the pack so she can keep her youth until Hailey is old enough for there to be romantic feelings between them. In between that, Leah was taking every opportunity she could to babysit Hailey for Mrs. Stanley. I let her skip on patrol nights because I knew it was the only way she could spend time with Hailey. And it wasn't so often that it would cause any inconvenience. We could always call if we needed her.

"Babysitting doesn't interfere with her job?" I shook my head at Nessie's question.

"No. Mrs. Stanley only asks Leah to babysit at night and weekends. She likes to have free time to do girly things." Nessie giggled and kissed my chest.

"One woman's impudence is another woman's gain I guess." I smiled and shrugged.

"I guess that's one way to look at it. But what if Hailey spends so much time with Leah that he starts thinking of her as his mother? Nothing will happen between them if that happens."

"I doubt that will be the case. Mrs. Stanley's still there for most of Hailey's life so he'll make the association that she's his mother. Leah isn't there as much."

"She wishes she could be, though. She was telling me the other day how she envied you and me. How your parents new about us and were okay with us spending time together. Same thing with Quil and Claire. Her parents know what's going on because of Emily and they're perfectly okay with it, as strange to them as it is."

"Why doesn't she just tell them what's going on?" I shook my head.

"It's one thing to tell someone that's a tribe member. It's another thing entirely to tell someone that doesn't know the legends and traditions. They'd probably never let her see Hailey again if she told them. Or worse, they might move away." Nessie sighed and hugged me tighter. I hugged her tighter in return.

"I'm so glad we didn't have to worry about it as much." I shrugged.

"More or less. But there were times when I worried that maybe your family would move away because they're supposed to be older than they look. I still have that fear." Nessie shook her head and smiled while kissing my cheek.

"You'll never have to worry about that, Jacob. I can't pretend that my family won't move away one of these days, but you'll never have to worry about losing me." I smiled in return and reached down to give Nessie a kiss.

"What would I ever do without you?" She kissed me again and rubbed her nose against mine.

"I'd rather not say." Then she told me in Quileute how much she loved me and I repeated the words back to her.

Around nightfall when I had to leave, Nessie and I hugged for a good twenty minutes. I didn't want to let her go and not see her again for another week, but I forced myself out of her warm arms and said goodbye with a searing kiss. Then I jumped out of the window and started running as fast as I could. When I was off campus, I went to the rooftops so I wouldn't have to worry about people staring at me. I could go back to the ground when I reached the suburbs.

But as I was running through the city, my nose started burning painfully and it made me stop in my tracks. It wasn't a scent I recognized and I looked around trying to be cautious. Then I looked behind me and saw the source of the smell. There were three people standing on top of the diamond building, two men, one woman. I knew the two men instantly. Nessie had sent me pictures of them on her phone. They both looked in my direction the moment I looked at them. Two of them looked indifferent, while the other, much taller one, looked thrilled to death. Then he was gone.

The other two noticed he was gone and followed. I went on my guard, prepared for the worst. I kept my ears and eyes open and waited for the perfect time to strike. I started hearing people babbling in Spanish, so I knew they were close. I waited until one of them was close enough and I turned and punched the rock hard skin of the tall one as soon as I heard him close enough. The two other vampires didn't react violently like I thought they would. Instead, the man looked annoyed and the woman was….giggling? The tall one that I punched got back on his feet and laughed a little before speaking to me.

"I'm not going to lie, Jacob. That was a dick move." My eyes widened and I took a step back.

"How do you know my name?" The tall one never stopped smiling.

"Nessie asked us to keep our hunting patterns out of campus since you were coming. I saw a picture of you on her keys. I'm her calculus teacher, by the way. You can call me Filipe." Then he turned to the other two. "This is Diego, her Spanish history teacher. And guess what, he was a prison bitch."

"Shut the hell up Filipe!" The woman laughed to herself again as Filipe continued.

"And that's Ofelia. She's Diego's mate. And you want to know another thing? Diego's a eunuch."

"HIJO DE PUTA, FILIPE, DEJA DE HABLAR!!!" I wasn't sure how to react to them. I knew Nessie had told me that they were strange, but this was more than I expected. After Diego yelled at him, Filipe did a weird zipper this with his mouth and stayed quiet. Diego breathed, then looked at me. "So you're the husband, Jacob." I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Nessie's husband." The woman, Ofelia, smiled kindly.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. But I have to ask, when was the last time you took a bath?" Filipe nodded.

"Yeah, you smell like wet dog and garbage. And do I detect a presence of sex junk?" My eyes widened at his directness and Diego yelled again.

"Damn it Filipe, what this man and my student do isn't something I want in my head. You don't ask people if they had sex recently. It's rude."

"Well, Diego, if he'd taken a shower, I wouldn't know he'd had sex recently in the first place, now would I?" Ofelia interrupted them.

"Diego, didn't you and Filipe say that Nessie told you that he turns into a werewolf or something? Maybe that's why he stinks." Filipe looked at me a moment.

"Wait, aren't werewolves brain dead?" Diego rolled his eyes.

"As brain dead as you, Filipe." Ofelia laughed to herself and I was too confused to react. This was too bizarre. I'd never encountered a vampire that was this……stupid?....or maybe flamboyant? Then Filipe gained back his excitement.

"I want to see him turn into a wolf!" Then he looked at me. "Come on, Jacob. Be a wolf for me." For lack of idea how to react, I just stood there staring at Filipe questioning his sanity. Diego ended up voicing that.

"Filipe, he doesn't want to change into a wolf here of all places. Besides, he has a long way to run to get back home, so let him be." Filipe started whining.

"But Diego, I want to see the wolfman." We all looked at him strangely and I held up my hands.

"Alright, fine. Just give me a moment." As I started pulling down my sweats, Filipe got excited again and I shifted as soon as I was naked. Filipe cheered and Diego and Ofelia stared at me wide eyed.

"Diego, it's, it's, so cute! Can we keep it, Diego?! Can we keep it?!" I backed away while Diego rolled his eyes.

"It's a wild animal, Filipe, we can't keep it as a pet."

"Oh come on Diego, we can domesticate it. That's what man did with wolves, we'll do it again with this wolf." I backed away from them and started growling.

"Filipe, he's someone else's pet. Miss. Renesmee's husband, remember?" Before they could talk anymore, I changed quickly and got back into my sweats.

"I better get back home. It was nice to meet you guys." Before they could respond, I ran off and made my way back home.

As soon as I hit the suburbs, I tied my sweats around my ankle and shifted into my wolf and started running. I kept running west and thankfully, most of it was wilderness. Everyone was out on patrol and they heard my thoughts about what happened. They were all as confused as me. Leah got a good laugh out of it to my surprise.

_He wanted to keep you as a pet?_ Leah forced the question through her laughter. I ignored her laugh and nodded.

_That's why I ran off like I did. It wouldn't be beyond that guy to try and catch me and put an electric collar around my neck._ Leah kept laughing no matter how much I told her to shut up.

They all kept me in touch on what was going on and if there was anything new going on. All the way home, there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. I finally reached Washington by three in the morning and ran even faster to make it back to the reservation. But then I smelled something on the bath towards the reservation that was familiar. I followed the scent and realized it was in the direction of the Cullen's place.

When I was outside the Cullen house, I looked in and saw Afton, Chelsea, Demetri, Heidi, Amadora, and Dante sitting in the kitchen talking to Carlisle. Edward heard that I was outside and he and Bella came out to see me. I fazed back and put on my sweats before walking over to them. Bella walked over and hugged me.

"Hey, Jacob. How's Nessie doing?"

"She's great. I met those vampire professors she told us about." Edward groaned.

"From what's in your thoughts, Jacob, I'm not sure to call him stupid or painfully outgoing." Bella looked at Edward questioningly.

"What are you talking about?" Edward sighed.

"Nessie's math teacher, Professor Del Toro, saw Jacob faze and he asked Diego if he could keep Jacob as a pet." Bella gave Edward a weird look, then looked at me with the same stare.

"Seriously?" I nodded.

"It's weird, I know. That's why I avoided talking to them for a long period of time." Bella laughed a little.

"I would hope so." I smiled back, then looked at Edward. He already knew my question and answered me.

"They're here because they needed Carlisle's help. He's the only one with the expertise to help them with Amadora."

"What happened?"

**Earlier that afternoon**

Edward and Bella were sitting together in the music room playing the piano together. The family had just gotten back from hunting and were enjoying a quiet weekend alone. Emmett and Rosalie were out in the garage working on his jeep while Ryan and Valerie played together in the garage. Jasper and Alice were in the living room watching a movie together and Carlisle and Esme were together in Carlisle's office reading together.

Edward stopped playing when he heard Afton and everyone else's thought in the distance. They were about five miles from the house and approaching quickly. And Afton was beyond furious. Demetri was in just as bad a mood as Afton, and Chelsea and Heidi were defending Amadora and Dante. Amadora felt guilty and Dante was just annoyed that Afton was so mad at him.

"Edward, what's the matter?" Edward sighed.

"Afton, Chelsea, Demetri, Heidi, Amadora, and Dante are on their way here."

"Why? We haven't done anything. What's wrong?" Edward shook his head and smiled at Bella.

"Don't worry, love. They're not mad at us. Afton's mad at Dante, Demetri's mad at Afton for being mad at Dante, though he's mad at Dante too and Chelsea and Heidi are trying to keep the piece. They want to talk to Carlisle."

Edward kissed Bella quickly before standing from the piano and running up to Carlisle's office. He heard Carlisle's and Esme's thought and heard them kissing and holding each other close. He hated to interrupt them. It wasn't often that they got to have any real alone time. But he knocked on the door. Though reluctant, Carlisle let go of Esme and Esme sighed and refused to get off Carlisle's lap and hugged him tightly.

"Yes, Edward?" Edward opened the door and smiled apologetically at Esme and Carlisle. Esme smiled, not having hard feelings at all, and Carlisle was the same.

"We have visitors coming."

"Do we?" Edward nodded.

"Afton and Demetri's coven are on their way." Carlisle looked surprised and Esme looked at him.

"Is something wrong?"

"They need your help as a doctor. They aren't mad at us." Carlisle sighed in relief and looked at Esme.

"I'm sorry, Esme." Esme smiled and shook her head.

"Another time, darling." They smiled at each other and had a quick peck before Esme got off Carlisle and he stood from his desk chair and went downstairs with Edward.

By now, they were right outside the house and walking up the steps about to ring the doorbell. Before Afton could ring the doorbell, Edward opened the door, welcomed them, and let them walk in. Carlisle was further in the house and had the same welcoming smile on his face.

"Afton. Demetri. It's a pleasure to see all of you." Afton spoke in a hard tone.

"I fear this isn't as pleasant a visit as I would like, Carlisle." Carlisle lost a little of his smile.

"Why do you say that?" Before anyone could say a word, Amadora got a pained look on her face, bent her head over the vase at the door, and vomited. Afton sighed and answered Carlisle's question.

"Dante knocked up my daughter." Demetri rolled his eyes and spoke.

"I'm sick of you blaming Dante for this, Afton. It's just as much Amadora's fault as it is Dante's."

"Yeah." Demetri looked at Dante with a look of death.

"Quiet boy." Dante bent his head down.

"Sorry, dad." Heidi put her hands on Dante's shoulders and tried to be comforting.

"Honey, you're walking on eggshells as it is. Please don't make it worse, okay." Dante nodded his head respectfully and Esme came downstairs with a horrified, though she tried to hide it, expression on her face.

"Did Amadora vomit in my vase?" Amadora tried to look innocent.

"No." Then she felt the pressure in her throat and bent over the vase again and vomited. Chelsea patted her back and held back her hair and looked at Esme apologetically.

"I'm sorry, we'll buy you a new one." Esme shook her head.

"Oh, no, no, no, don't worry about it. We'll just burn it." Dante looked at Amadora with concern when she vomited again. He wanted to say something, but thought against it. Amadora had been in an understandably bad mood all day. "Could you take her to the.." Chelsea nodded her head.

"I'll take her to the bathroom as soon as she's done."

"Thank you, Chelsea." Chelsea smiled apologetically and led Amadora with her to the bathroom as soon as she had some control over her nausea. When Amadora was in the bathroom, Afton continued talking to Carlisle.

"I know you don't like killing things, but I'm not ready to be a grandpa." Demetri interrupted.

"Don't listen to him, Carlisle. The child doesn't deserve to die because his parents were irresponsible." Afton turned his attention to Demetri in response.

"It's your son's fault this happened in the first place. He thought it would be a wise idea to keep him and Amadora under his shield so they could run off for two days and come back like they did nothing wrong and three days later, I find out my daughter's with child."

"It takes two to have a baby, Afton. And if your daughter said no, Dante wouldn't have done anything. Clearly, Amadora didn't say no."

Chelsea ran in front of Afton as he roared at Demetri and Demetri leaped back ready to fight. Heidi went to Demetri's side and tried to hold him back too. Emmett and Jasper jumped between the two of them to make sure they didn't attack each other. Dante went on Demetri's side ready to fight if something happened.

"Daddy, stop yelling! Yelling isn't going to solve anything." Afton looked at Amadora and the look on her face made him feel awful for his little girl. She had a look of pain on her face at the moment and it only made him angrier, but he stood down. Dante ran over to Amadora to comfort her, but that made Afton even angrier.

"Is it done?" Amadora nodded her head at Dante.

"Yeah, I think so. Just don't pat my back." Dante nodded.

"I won't, Amadora." Dante led Amadora with him to the kitchen and took a seat next to her at the kitchen table and held her hand while she rested her head against Dante's shoulder.

"Afton, Demetri." Afton and Demetri looked at Carlisle, who was trying to keep the peace. "If you're asking me to kill the child, I won't do that. Regardless of what happened or who's fault this is, the baby isn't to blame. But if you want me to help Amadora through the pregnancy and make sure her and the baby are healthy, then that I will happily do."

Afton still looked like he wasn't thrilled about the idea, but Demetri nodded his head in agreement with what Carlisle said.

"I'm not happy with either of them, but you can't change what's already happened. So we would like for you to make sure Amadora and the baby are healthy and they both get through this alright." Carlisle smiled and they all looked at Afton. Chelsea looked at him pleadingly and he finally sighed.

"Fine. But I still say this is Dante's fault. I won't blame the child for this, but Dante won't earn my forgiveness any time soon."

"Believe me, Afton, your forgiveness is the last thing on my son's mind."

"I know. And I blame you for that." Demetri sneered at Afton and Afton continued before he could respond. "I also expect that son of yours to take responsibility for what he did and help her take care of this baby. And I expect them to be married by the end of the year." Demetri finally lost his patients.

"You can't expect them to get married just because a child is involved. That's what ruins a marriage." Afton shrugged indifferently.

"They were talking about the possibility of getting married long before, now weren't they? What difference would a baby make?"

"People should get married when they feel ready to get married. When a couple is forced into a marriage, it puts unneeded stress on them and it'll put a strain on their marriage."

"Well, your son got my daughter pregnant. I have a right to demand that he marry her."

"You're making them have a shot gun wedding. No one is ever happy with a shot gun wedding and I won't let our kids get married unless they decide for themselves that they want to get married."

"They lost that privilege when they were irresponsible enough to have a child when they aren't ready. That's why I think we should get rid of the baby. It's not fair to that child to grow up with parents that don't know what they're doing." Demetri rolled his eyes.

"You're such a hypocrite, Afton. Like you were the best father in the whole world." Afton's red eyes seemed to glow.

"We were all under different circumstances."

"Regardless of that, Afton, you can't pretend that they'd be bad parents just because they're young. And my son isn't getting married until he's ready to get married. I don't doubt they will one day, but that will be on their time."

Afton and Demetri glared at each other a moment while everyone stayed quiet, not wanting to set either of them off. Carlisle cleared his throat to get their attention and tried to smile warmly, hoping to calm them down. Jasper started pushing calmness on them to improve the feel of the room.

"If it's alright with you, Afton, I'd like to have Amadora's first check up now." Afton sighed internally and nodded.

"Alright. Can you tell what gender the child is by now?" Carlisle shook his head.

"I won't be able to see through the amniotic sac. It's thick like vampire skin."

"So you can't see through it?" Carlisle nodded. "Then how will you tell how the baby's doing?"

"I can still hear it's heart beat and later on, Edward will be able to hear the baby's thoughts." Demetri and the girls looked impressed about that.

Once Carlisle had Demetri and Afton calm, he walked to the kitchen and started asking Amadora questions about her symptoms and when she started feeling sick. Carlisle naturally assumed that since the child was still half vampire, half human, it would be the same for Amadora as it was for Bella and Morgan. But since Amadora was a half breed herself, he was hoping her body would be better prepared to handle a pregnancy like this.

**Present**

"So Amadora's a knocked up teenager?" Edward fought a laugh and nodded his head.

"Basically, yes." I nodded awkwardly and Edward answered me before I could voice my question. "Of course Dante's the father. Who else would be the father?" I shrugged.

"It was just a question. How old is she anyway?"

"She turns five this December. Dante turned five this past March."

"Wow. They really are just teenagers by half breed standards aren't they?"

"In a manner. They both still look like teenagers. Dante looks older than he is, but that's common for boys that get tall." Bella nodded.

"Yeah. You already looked like you were in your twenties when you were sixteen. That's when you got buff." Bella and I laughed a little.

"Yeah. It was so nice not to be a beanpole anymore." I smiled at Bella and gently knocked on her head. "You're still kind of a beanpole, though." Bella teasingly hissed at me and went back to Edward.

"I'm not a beanpole. Nessie gave me hips." Edward and I both gave Bella a weird look, but were both laughing at the joke. Bella's hips weren't that much bigger from before she'd been pregnant, but if you knew her well enough, there was a clear difference. I shrugged.

"You got me there, Bella." Bella and Edward smiled, then Edward changed the subject.

"Are you hungry, Jacob? You haven't eaten all of yesterday." I looked in the kitchen and was about to say no. "I'll ask Carlisle to take them to his office and I'll make you something." I shrugged.

"In that case, alright. I am pretty hungry now that you mention it." Edward smiled politely and went back in the house to tell Carlisle. Bella and I walked into the house and went to the kitchen where everyone was walking out and Edward was starting something for me.

I smelled lamb and smiled eagerly. I never got lamb a lot, so it was a treat when I did. Edward was finished in thirty minutes and he and Bella stayed and asked me about Nessie while I ate. A few minutes later, Demetri and Afton and their coven came back downstairs and Dante and Amadora came to the kitchen and Edward got up to get Amadora some vanilla beans for her to chew on. When they sat across the table from me, they smiled at me politely when I looked at them.

"So….you guys are having a baby." They nodded. "Wow. It's kind of weird." Dante didn't look offended to my relief when he answered.

"Why would you say that?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. I just never thought you two would be parents before me and Nessie. I mean, by highbred standards, you're pretty young."

"Yeah, we know."

"So do you think Demetri and Afton will be mad for long?" Amadora shrugged.

"If anyone will stay mad, it'll be daddy." Dante groaned.

"Your dad just hates me. I'm positive that if any other man had gotten you pregnant, he would've been fine with it, but since I'm the father, he'll stay mad longer."

"Dante, daddy doesn't hate you. He just thinks you're cocky and eccentric and it annoys him."

"I'm not going to change my personality to make your dad happy, Amadora."

"I never said you had to. All I ask is that you take into account that daddy is your elder and that you respect him at least a little. For once in your life, respect someone even when you don't like them."

"I respect your dad, Amadora, that's not the issue. The issue is that your dad makes no effort to be nice to me. Especially when we told him you were pregnant."

"Dante, we were still under family arrest when we told them."

"Correction, you told them. I sat there with my jaw dropped just like our dads. Chelsea was the one that knew too."

"Yeah, because she noticed me getting cravings. And we'd gone missing for two days before that, what else is she going to think? She made me take a pregnancy test and that's how I found out."

"Well and good, but why couldn't Afton react as calmly as Chelsea did?"

"What calm? She was yelling at me for an hour. She gave me a rundown of every form of birth control that we should've used so this wouldn't have happened. It's just that by the time we were all together for me to tell you guys, Chelsea had yelled at me as much as she could stand."

"Too bad I didn't get that luxury with your dad." Amadora rolled her eyes and kept sucking on her vanilla bean.

As soon as I was done with dinner, I ran home to take a shower and get ready for work. I would need to get everyone together tonight and let them know what was going on. I was sure that Carlisle already informed them not to hunt any humans near here, but we needed to keep on guard just in case. I honestly couldn't wait to call Nessie and tell her about this. She would definitely think this was funny.

When I got home and took my shower, I cleaned off as fast as I could, dried off, got dressed, and was out the door in twenty minutes and off to work. It was still early, so I beat the rush hour traffic. Craig was already there, so I didn't have to wait for the shop to be unlocked. I went in and joined Andy in getting to work, not bothering to acknowledge Amanda. I've avoided any contact with her since the restaurant. Somehow, I got the feeling that she still didn't get the message.

As the day wore on, more of the guys came in and we all were working on the cars we'd been assigned for the day. Andy and I were handling all the oil changes for the day while Mick and Travis were working on the more serious damages. Andy and I helped them out when we finished with the oil changes.

When I got home, I called Nessie first thing and told her all about Dante and Amadora. But when I told her, she wasn't that surprised. She told me that she sort of saw this coming and that she was certain Dante and Amadora would me married within a year. Then I told her about my encounter with her professor's. That did make her laugh. She was surprised to hear that Diego had a mate, but other than that, she was cackling for a good ten minutes. With that out of the way, we talked for a few more hours about our day. It was the type of conversation we'd have if she were still home.

Nessie and I talked for about three hours. I wished her goodnight when I saw that it was nine, which meant it was eleven in Illinois. I went upstairs after I hung up the phone and got my sweats. I fazed into a wolf and waited for everyone to hear me. When they were all present, I told them to meet me in Cullen clearing.

As soon as I gave the order, I ran to the clearing as fast as I could and the pack members followed me. Seth went to get everyone that wasn't usually on patrol tonight so they could be a part of the conversation. We all waited at the clearing for Seth and the others to get her. To my surprise, Leah was the last one to arrive, but I saw Hailey with her and I knew why. I ran into the woods, changed back and put on my sweats, then walked back to her with a look of shock.

"Leah, what are you doing? Why did you bring Hailey?"

"Because I was watching him and I'm not leaving him with someone else."

"Why couldn't you ask Jessica and Mike to watch him?" Leah sneered.

"Because I've seen how that girl handles Hailey and I'm not impressed. You don't leave a baby in a playpen for hours by himself."

"I understand, Leah, but he doesn't need to see this." Leah shrugged.

"Just all of you faze back and we'll talk about this as humans."

I wanted to say no, but I looked at Hailey and I just decided to go with it. Hailey was a few months old. He wasn't saying anything. I told Leah it was alright, then told everyone else to faze back and put some pants on so we could all talk. Once we were in a circle sitting together, Embry was the first one talking.

"So what's the matter? Amadora's pregnant?" I nodded.

"Yeah. Edward told me that she's looking about four days along. That's about three or four months in normal pregnancy timeline. So she'll start showing soon." Quil spoke next.

"You don't think this'll end up being a problem or something, do you?" I shook my head.

"I doubt it. Carlisle already talked to them and let them know to hunt outside of our zone." Leah's voice was frank when she answered me.

"It's still the loss of human lives, Jacob. We're condoning that and I'm not sure I'm okay with that." I nodded.

"I know, Leah. I'm not crazy about it either. But they're friends of the Cullens and I'm not about to argue with my in-laws. Edward would know if they had mal intentions anyway, so we don't have to worry about that."

"Even so, Jacob, what if that baby Amadora and Dante are having is dangerous?"

"It'll be the same thing as Nessie, Leah. We know what Nessie, Amadora, and Dante are and that's what's being produced. And I doubt very seriously that Amadora wouldn't end up coming out of this pregnancy fine. Morgan was alright, and she was human." Seth shrugged.

"It took a lot of Carlisle supervision."

"I know, but the point is Morgan lived through it. And Ryan and Valerie came out perfectly healthy and the gremlin and peach are having their reign of terror." We all laughed a little at the joke. Seth spoke next.

"I still can't understand how that boy always beats me at poker. He's cheating, I know he is." We laughed again for a moment before I got everyone back on track.

"But seriously, guys, it's not the child or Amadora I'm worried about. I'm not really worried about anything to be honest. All I'm saying is that I want you guys to be cautious while in the woods for the next few days. The pregnancy should last about two weeks, so another week and a half and they'll be gone." Jared spoke next.

"Do you think they'd let us memorize their scent so we don't confuse them and start something?" I shrugged.

"We can ask them. If Edward explains why to them, I don't think they'll mind." Leah smiled and bounced Hailey in her arms a moment.

"That's fine by me. My cars parked in the dirt road if anyone wants to take a ride with me and Hailey." We all shook our heads and Seth teased Leah.

"It's okay, Leah. You and Hailey need you time alone. You guys having just started dating and all." Leah stuck her tongue out at Seth before she looked at Hailey and kissed his little brown fuzzed head.

"Don't worry, Hailey. Seth's just being mean because he's jealous. He wishes he was as cute as you." Seth smiled and rolled his eyes.

We got back into our wolf forms and ran back to the Cullen house. Edward already heard our thoughts while we were on our way, so Demetri and Afton's coven were already outside waiting for us to get there. We waited for Leah before we started and she arrived a few minutes after us. As soon as she was there, we all started memorizing their scents.

"Why do they need our scents?" Afton asked while holding his breath. Edward answered him politely.

"They need to memorize your scents so they don't confuse you with other vampires should one wander into the area."

Afton shrugged indifferently and let us do what we needed to do. Last time they were here, my pack and I never took the time to memorize their scents, so we needed to do that now. When Leah got to Heidi, Heidi smiled at Hailey.

"He's so cute. I didn't know you had a son." Leah shook her head.

"He's not my son. He's my imprintee." Heidi looked at Leah a little surprised.

"You mean this baby is your soul mate or something?" Leah nodded.

"More or less. It's not a romantic love yet. It won't be for a really long time. Quil's in the same boat as me. His imprintee is nine." Heidi smiled and tried to find Quil. Leah pointed him out and Heidi gave him an apologetic smile. "If you want something to pity Quil over, Claire, his imprintee, just started playing the recorder." They all sneered at the word. Demetri rubbed his face in discomfort and groaned.

"The worst instrument invented." Afton looked at Demetri.

"I thought you said the Obo was the worst instrument ever invented."

"That one's bad too, but if I had to choose between the wind instruments, I'd say the Obo was better. And people actually get good at playing the Obo. No one's good at playing that damn recorder." As they spoke, something came to mind and Edward laughed at my thought.

"I've never bothered trying to play the Recorder, Jacob. So I can't honestly say if I'm good at playing it."

_Could you attempt and let me record it? Nessie and I had a bet._

"Yes, Jacob, I know you and Nessie had a bet and I won't give you the satisfaction of either result. Married or not, she's still my little girl."

_I'm just sincerely curious whether or not you could play the recorder._

"I probably could play the recorder." Afton laughed without humor.

"Sure, Edward. If you can play the recorder, I can play the organ. We'll both play hot cross buns or whatever that song is third graders play, and see whose better at playing an instrument we've never played before." Edward shook his head, Afton.

"I'll pass, Afton. I'm not willing to go out and buy an organ and recorder just to prove a point. And you have played the organ before when Aro thought it would be fun to have a whole bunch of new instruments, so that would be cheating." Afton chuckled and shrugged.

"Touché, Cullen." Chelsea smiled and held onto Afton's arm. It never ceased to amaze me how affectionate these people were with each other considering they used to, technically still do, murder people for a living.

"Do you have our scents memorized now?" I looked at Demetri and waited for everyone to tell me they had to nod my head. "Good. The smell's starting to give me a headache." Leah retorted.

"Vampires can get headaches, huh? How do you think we feel? You scent burns our noses." Demetri shrugged.

"Not everyone will like the way you smell, even with us. Aro had an acquired taste kind of smell. It was olives and buttermilk that was overly sweetened was what Aro smelled like." We all scrunched our noses. "Like I said, it was an acquired taste. But after living with the man for a long enough time, we got used to it."

"I miss Caius' smell though. He smelled like lilacs and honey." Heidi said with a sad look on her face. "It's kind of funny that someone so pricky could smell so good." Chelsea nodded.

"Sad, isn't it?" While they talked about that, I looked at Edward and asked my mental question. The pack listened in when I said it.

_So how's Amadora doing so far? Is she and the baby okay?_ Edward smiled.

"I'm surprised you care, Jacob."

_You know why I care. They were nice kids and though I think how it happened is unfortunate, I'm happy for them. I mean, we're all prepared for if this goes bad and all, but I've spent enough time with these guys to know they're pretty cool. So if they're having a baby, congrats to them._

"That's a good response, Jacob. I'm proud of you. Amadora's doing fine and so is the baby. She isn't having any morning sickness anymore, which is good. And if you're wondering what that smell is near the front, that was the vase Esme burned." I scrunched my nose at the thought.

_That's good news. Is the baby kicking yet? I knew Nessie was kicking near the beginning. _Edward smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, the baby's kicking. You should've seen the look on Dante's face. You'd think the boy won the lottery." I smiled and saw Afton at the corner of my eye looking away, or making a point to. I think he was starting to feel guilty for being so hard on Dante. "He is, but that's nothing for you to worry about, Jacob."

_Is she showing yet?_

"She has a bump. Carlisle listened for the heartbeat and it's beating furiously. The bump will get bigger every day until Amadora has the baby."

_For future reference, do you think morphine will work on her?_ Edward shook his head.

"I doubt it. It didn't work on you because your body burned it off so fast. It'll probably be the same for Amadora and Nessie." I groaned.

_I was kind of hoping Nessie would be able to take morphine when they time came._ Edward smiled.

"Me too, but sadly, she probably won't be able to. We're going to try, just to make sure, but it's not looking good." I sighed, then Edward and I both laughed when another thought came to my head. "Don't worry, Jacob. Carlisle will restock on donated blood before Nessie comes back home."

_Good. Nessie would be really mad if all the donated blood was gone._ The pack and I shared a laugh and Edward laughed too.

As soon as she had the scent memorized, Leah took Hailey back to her apartment so she and Hailey could have more fun together. Anyone that wasn't on patrol tonight, I told them to go back home and get some sleep. Brad and Brian had school in the morning. The others I told to go on without me. I wanted to go in and see them. I ran into the woods, fazed back and put on my sweats, then came back in sight where Edward and now Bella were waiting for me.

"Do you think Amadora and Dante will mind if I pop in and say hi?" Edward shook his head.

"Not at all. I already told them you wanted to. Amadora's going to sleep after the visit, so don't take too long. The baby's kicking has been keeping her up all day." I nodded.

"Sure thing."

I followed Edward and Bella into the house and saw Amadora and Dante sitting together on the couch. Afton was sitting on the other side of Amadora with Chelsea sitting next to him. I think Afton had cooled down significantly since he got here, but he was still really anxious, even with Jasper trying to relax him. I didn't blame him. I didn't even want to think about when I'd be going through this with my own daughter. I forced the thought out of my mind. Thinking about that would just make me angry. Amadora and Dante looked at me and smiled.

"Hey you two. How're you doing?" Amadora spoke.

"Pretty good. The baby's doing great. Do you want to feel it kick?" I shrugged.

"Sure. Why not." I walked over to them and Afton and Dante scooted over a bit to give Amadora room. I put my hand where she told me and waited a moment. Then I felt the little nudge and had to smile.

"Isn't it great?" I nodded.

"Yeah. That was something else." Dante grinned.

"It's not the same when it's someone else's kid, but one day it'll feel as great for you as it did for me." I smiled.

"Yeah, I can't wait."

I didn't stay very long. Once I felt the baby kick, I said goodbye to them and left the house to go back to the woods with my pack. They heard what happened and were just as happy for them as I was. When they'd stayed with us and even during the epidemic when I would come to the house, they were always fun kids and nice to be around. The only one I didn't know really well was Armando, and that's just because he's really shy and only talks to Octavia, who had a habit of talking for Armando.

At the end of the patrol night, we all went home and got ready for work, or in Seth and Embry's case, got ready for school. I washed off and was dressed in twenty minutes and out the door as soon as I had breakfast. I was finally on time instead of early and got to work as soon as I got there.

"So how's life without the wife, Jacob?" I sighed as Andy and I worked.

"I'm living. I got to see her over the weekend, so that's something."

"Good for you, dude. What's her major again?"

"Business management."

"I'm sure it's great." I laughed a little and rolled my eyes at Andy. He was definitely out of it today. He was slurring his words and was even ruder than usual.

After a few hour of week, Andy and I got lunch at a McDonalds and got back to work while eating our food. When it was the end of the day, I went straight to the Cullen's house to update. When I got there, everything seemed fine. The bump Amadora had was noticeably different if you saw it with the naked eye, but when her bump was covered by her shirt, it was hard to tell she was pregnant.

Carlisle was monitoring her progress really closely. It was almost like and experiment for him and for me. By watching what Amadora went through, it would give me and Carlisle an idea what to expect for when Nessie and I start having kids. I stayed around the Cullen house whenever I was on patrol so I could sneak a peek at how things were going.

When the baby was four days away from the expected date of birth, Amadora rarely walked anymore. The change in weight was way too drastic. Normally, women had nine months to get used to the strange weight distribution, but with Amadora, she had two weeks. And going from 112, when Carlisle weighed her when she first got here, to 150 when Carlisle weighed her last, was a really big change. Three days before the baby was expected, I was at the Cullen house having dinner. Dante and Amadora were sitting at the table with me doing a puzzle. I could tell Dante was bored, but he tolerated it.

"So how are you feeling, Amadora?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I'm ready for it to be over." Dante and I laughed a little.

"I bet. Can Edward hear the baby's thoughts yet?" She nodded.

"Yeah, he can. He started hearing the baby yesterday. The baby really likes it when Demetri starts talking. The baby thinks it's comforting." I smiled.

"And what does he think about that?" Dante grinned.

"He tells Afton the baby likes him more. Afton just growls at dad and that's the end of it."

"How are they adjusting to the idea of being grandparents?" Dante shrugged.

"Heidi's really looking forward to it. She thinks it would be nice to have a baby around again. And Chelsea's already using Caius' credit card to get baby stuff." I looked at Dante confused.

"Caius' credit card?" Dante grinned evilly and nodded.

"I stole it from him before we came here. We've all been using that card for certain things ever since. Dad and Heidi have even considered getting a permanent residence for me and Amadora." Amadora looked at Dante surprised.

"They are?" Dante nodded.

"That's what Heidi told me. Afton, of course, isn't keen on the idea, but we'll see how it goes. I mean, we can't very well cart all the baby's things with us on our backs now can we?" Dante laughed and Afton, having overheard, ran into the kitchen and hit his head with the newspaper.

"Daddy!" Afton shrugged.

"What? The boy's lucky I let him live to be a father in the first place. I wouldn't be picky if I were him." Amadora sighed and Afton patted her back. "I'll be good if he is." Then Afton walked back out of the room with Demetri, Jasper, and Emmett.

"Dante." Dante sighed, knowing what she was going to say.

"I'll be good, Amadora." Then she smiled and kissed Dante's cheek.

"That's all I ask, Dante." Desperate to change the subject, I interrupted with a question.

"So what are you guys naming the baby when he's born?" Dante smiled and answered first.

"I want to give the baby a Russian name."

"I said no, Dante. I want our kid's name to have vowels."

"Russian names have vowels. My dad's name has vowels."

"Yeah, but I don't want a Russian name. I want to name the baby after daddy if it's a boy."

"Amadora, we are not, I repeat, we are not naming this child after your dad." Afton was suddenly behind Dante with a newspaper in hand.

"And what's wrong with my name, Dante?" Dante froze up a moment and Demetri came to his defense.

"If that kid has your name, I want mine in there too." Afton looked at Demetri like he was nuts.

"No. Afton and Demetri don't mix well together. And they're not combining the two." Dante shrugged.

"Ameton?" Afton looked at Dante.

"I said no combining the two." Dante smiled.

"We could name the baby after my dad, but spell it differently. Instead of d e m e t r i, it could be d m i t r i."

"Dmitri?" Dante nodded.

"Yeah. It works." Amadora shook her head.

"If we aren't using my dad's name, we aren't using yours either. And what if it's a girl?" Dante grinned.

"It's a boy, trust me."

"What makes you so sure?" Dante shrugged.

"I just know."

"And what if you're wrong?" Dante shrugged.

"I say if it's a girl, we name her Calypso." Amadora, Demetri, and Afton gave Dante a disapproving look.

"You want to name our daughter after a sea goddess?"

"I think it's a strong name." Chelsea, who'd come into the kitchen with Heidi a few seconds ago, shrugged and offered a suggestion.

"When I was human, I knew a woman I really liked named Foe." Afton gave Chelsea a weird look.

"Why would we name the baby something so negative?" Chelsea shrugged.

"I don't know. After hearing it a few times, it grows on you and it's really nice. You forget what it means and it just becomes a pretty name." Dante smiled and nodded.

"I like Foe."

"I don't. I'm not naming our child Foe, I'm not naming her Calypso, and I'm not naming her anything weird."

"Calypso isn't weird, it's strong. And it's mythology, which is fun. Not to mention it's a unique name." Amadora looked like she was about to say something, but Dante stopped her. "How about Helena, Helea, or Helen? Are you okay with those?"

Amadora looked thoughtful a moment, playing with the names in her head. It wasn't long before she smiled and nodded her head.

"I like Helen. It's a nice, not weird, name." Dante smiled.

"Good, we've agreed on a girl name, even though it's going to be a boy."

"It might be a girl, Dante."

"It could, but it won't be. It's a boy, Amadora, I know it."

"Okay, fine. What are we naming the baby if it's a boy, then?"

"How about Artemis?"

"Dante, enough with the Greek names." Dante shrugged.

"I like it."

"It's a nice name if you're Greek, which neither of us are."

"Celestine?" Amadora looked thoughtful a moment, then shook her head.

"It's too much."

"Calisto?"

"No." Dante sighed.

"Arwin?"

"That's a girl's name."

"It can be either."

"What else do you have?"

"Daith?" Amadora made a weird face.

"Daith? That's so harsh."

"Fine, how about Haydn or Falken?"

"Falcons are birds."

"That's falcon, f a l c o n. I'm talking Falken f a l k e n."

"Nothing that's remotely similar to a bird and Haydn's too girly for a boy." Dante groaned. He looked like he was losing his patients and I didn't blame him. I thought some of those names were pretty good. Calypso was a little eccentric for my taste, but I could see it working. Then something came to Dante and he smiled.

"How about Zidane?" Amadora became thoughtful. Her face was initially pleasantly surprised, then she seemed to like it the more she thought it, the more she liked it.

"I like Zidane. I mean, a soccer player has that name, but I don't think it's too awfully common." Demetri shook his head.

"I don't like it." Afton looked at Demetri.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I just don't like it." Afton rolled his eyes, then offered his own suggestion.

"How about Marron, then?"

"Isn't that a woman's name?"

"It can be either." Amadora sighed.

"We still have a few days to think, so let's not make a huge deal about this, okay."

No one looked like they wanted to drop the subject, but for Amadora, they all did. I never brought up names after that. I was scared next time they'd start a fight over it. I'd always thought that Demetri and Afton were friends, but evidently not.

From what I could tell, Dante and Amadora talked more about what to name the baby should it be a boy, making a point not to talk about it in front of their parents. I didn't blame them for it. I was grateful that Nessie and I had already talked about this a long time ago. Even if we would probably have a lot more time than they do for this, it was still nice to have it all planned out already. Rachael and Paul had names picked too, last time I heard. They still weren't planning to have kids yet, but they were ready with names when it happened.

A few days later, I was out with the pack on patrol. Carlisle was guessing this would be when Amadora would go into labor, so I stayed near the house. I didn't want to see the actual birth itself, but I wanted to see the baby when it was born. I was curious.

_Those two are going to have a really pretty baby._ All of us nodded at Embry's statement.

_Most definitely. I hope it has Amadora's hair. It's so shinny._ I laughed a little at rolled my eyes at Quil.

_It'll probably have Dante's hair. Brown's more common and it's the dominant trait for both._ Paul became thoughtful.

_What do you think? Boy or girl?_ I shrugged.

_I don't know. How would I know?_

_Just asking. What kind of power do you think the baby will have? They both have gifts right?_ I nodded.

_Dante's immune to trackers and Amadora is a solid shield. It's anyone's guess what that could make._

As we were talking, I heard panicking coming from the house. I naturally assumed that meant Amadora was in labor, so I went to the backyard and waited. Edward came out, nodded his head to let me know that was in fact what was happening, then he went back inside and closed the door. I could, for the most part, hear what they were saying. Right now, Amadora was yelling at Dante to not carry her up the stairs while Afton seemed to be doing that anyway. Paul had excitement in his voice when I heard him.

_Oh my god, she's having the baby? This should be good._

While the pack talked about how excited they were about this, I paid close attention to what was going on in the house. Carlisle attempted the morphine and I was hoping desperately that Amadora, intern Nessie, could get some use from it. Carlisle started at a low dose and when that didn't work, he didn't go any further. Too much morphine would hurt the baby. I groaned a little to myself. Nessie was in for a painful few hours.

I heard everyone, Afton, Demetri, and Dante, start arguing about the morphine, then fingers started getting pointed and Afton blamed Dante again with Demetri coming to his defense, though still thoroughly pissed at him until Amadora couldn't take it anymore and she told all of them to get out. Heidi, Chelsea, and Carlisle stayed, but everyone else was kicked out. I laughed a little to myself at how angry Amadora was getting.

I started running around the house again from boredom when the baby took longer than a half hour to get here. So far, Carlisle was waiting for Amadora to be dilated enough. Another half hour passed by, and nothing happened. I was getting really annoyed with how slow it was and Jared was kind enough to enlighten me.

_You think this is bad, try waiting twelve hours. That's how long Kim was in labor. And for twelve hours, she hated me._ Paul laughed.

_That's just Kim. My Rachael wouldn't do that._ Jared laughed without humor.

_Please, Paul. Rachael will start throwing things at you for telling her to breath. Mark my words, you're in for hell when you and Rachael finally start having kids. Which reminds me, when are you two planning to finally have them? You two have been married how long now? Five years?_

_We aren't ready for kids just yet. We will soon, but I don't want to share Rachael just yet. I want her to myself for a little longer._

_Five years is enough to have her all to yourself. And just because you have kids doesn't mean your love life is nonexistent. I won't pretend it's not harder to have sex when you have kids, but it's not that bad._ Paul rolled his eyes.

_Yeah right, Jared. Is there a reason you've only had Allison Shea?_

_She just hasn't gotten pregnant. And besides, Allison's too young to have a sibling. Or more appropriately, me and Kim aren't ready to have two toddlers._ Quil interrupted Paul and Jared.

_How old is Allison now?_ Jared smiled as he answered.

_She's turning five soon._

As they all kept talking, I turned my full attention back to the house. So far, nothing was progressing and I could hear Dante getting really impatient. He was pacing and mumbling to himself, sort of preparing an argument for Amadora for why she would kick him out. That, of course, led to another argument between Dante and Afton.

By five in the morning, I was getting bored out of my mind from waiting. I wondered if I could do a lap around Washington once and by the time I got back, she would still be in labor. Jared laughed and spoke.

_You might be able to. I've heard of women that are in labor for two days. I'm so glad Kim was only twelve._

_Twelve hours is still excruciatingly long, Jared. This kid isn't even anyone of ours and we're getting antsy. Except you, but you've gone through this before._

_Yep, Jacob, I have. It's still nerve wracking, but since it's not my kid I'm waiting for, I don't see the point in worrying too much. You're worried because you think Amadora's a nice girl and you're wishing her and Dante the best, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think in the excitement of the situation, you're getting a little too into it. I shudder to think how you'll be when this actually happens to Nessie._ I groaned.

_Dear God, I hope she isn't in labor this long. I'd have a heart attack from panic._ Everyone laughed a little at how that seemed like something that would happen with me.

When the sun started coming up, I sent the pack home and fazed back and went into the Cullen house. An hour after the sun came out, it was covered by a layer of clouds and it started raining, which wasn't odd. I was sitting downstairs with everyone, sitting next to Edward and Bella. Aside from Demetri, Afton, and Dante, everyone was pretty calm.

"So how's she doing, Edward?" I asked. Edward shrugged.

"As well as she can. She's in a really bad mood right now, but that's understandable." Dante spoke next.

"Is the baby almost here?"

"She's at eight centimeters, so it won't be long now."

"That's still too long." Edward smiled reassuringly.

"Just be grateful that this isn't nearly as stressful for you as it was for me. I had to worry about losing Bella through the whole thing. Doe you, this is just like any normal birthing process. And sadly, a lot of women have a very tedious and painful birthing process and are in labor for several hours."

Dante groaned a little to himself and rubbed his face out of frustration. Afton gave him a mean look, but otherwise said nothing. I stayed quiet for the rest of the morning. Dante and Afton were just one cross word away from arguing again and I wouldn't be the one that lit the fire. Then, finally, Edward smiled and looked at Dante.

"She's having the baby, Dante. She wants you up there." Dante leaped from the chair and was running up stairs before Edward even finished his sentence. Afton and Demetri followed after while the rest of us stayed downstairs.

Ryan and Valerie wanted to go upstairs, but Rosalie told them to stay downstairs and took them to the garage with Emmett to keep them entertained. I stayed downstairs and watched a game with Jasper. Alice had gone upstairs to help out Carlisle and Esme and Bella was with Edward in the music room.

"Hey." Jasper smiled a little.

"Hey."

"How's your day going?" Jasper laughed under his breath.

"Fine, I guess. Yours?"

"Pretty good." We were silent a moment. Then I spoke again. "You know what's funny?"

"What's funny?"

"Alice is so bouncy and hyper all the time and you're so reserved and quiet. I can't remember the last time you and I had a conversation." Jasper nodded.

"Two years, four months, nine days, and twelve hours." I laughed a little to myself.

"Is that really the last time we spoke to each other?"

"Yep, that's how long it's been. We hardly see each other for more than a few minutes anyway, so we don't talk. And you prefer to talk to Nessie anyway."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"That and I still can't stand your smell. I'm usually holding my breath around you." I laughed.

"And here I thought we were getting used to each other." Jasper smiled.

"I'm used to you, I just don't like it."

"And your scent still burns my nose, but you don't hear me complaining." Jasper and I laughed a little again and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I'm sure you do when we aren't around." I nodded.

"I do the same thing as you, Jasper. I stomach it and pretend I'm cool with it, then complain to anyone who'll listen. Usually Nessie."

"Alice doesn't let me complain about it. She thinks it's rude to complain about family."

"I complain about my relatives sometimes." Jasper nodded.

"I know. I heard about your grandparents. And I have to say, under the circumstances, the way your grandfather passed away was so ironic."

"It was. He always said, 'I'd rather burn in hell than be married to you', and he died by being lit on fire." Jasper laughed.

"Classic irony. I do have one that's better, though." I raised an eyebrow at Jasper.

"Do you now?" He nodded.

"According to my mother's diaries, we had a neighbor that was mean to all the little kids. Consequently, he was really mean to his wife too. Mother talks about how she'd overhear him beating his wife and so on. Well, one day, his wife got tired of it, and she beat him to death with a cast iron skillet."

"I'm not sure that's ironic. Karma, yes, but not ironic."

"I know. That story just makes me happy knowing that she was able to take the initiative and get herself out of a bad relationship. But she kind of ruined it when she blamed it on the house slave, though."

"Wow. That's a bitchy thing to do." Jasper shrugged.

"Those were the days I grew up in."

"I grew up in a time where it was okay to let your kids play in the words with just a flashlight." Jasper laughed and nodded his head.

"I can see Billy letting you do that."

"Yeah. One time when I was seven, I was out until three in the morning. Billy didn't say a thing about it. He just asked me how my night was while drinking his coffee."

"Did he ever let your sisters do that?"

"Not without some kind of protection. Billy never liked it, but he acknowledged the fact that me and my sisters would get into that sort of stuff as teenagers and told us to always have condoms with us everywhere we went, even when we were just with friends." Jasper gave me a weird look.

"I thought Nessie was your first."

"She was. But my sisters were a little more popular than I was. Rachael had one serious boyfriend in high school, but that stopped when she found out he was cheating on her. We hate him now." Jasper laughed at my sarcasm.

"Rebecca too?"

"Yeah. She never had a serious boyfriend aside from John, but I overheard her and Rachael talking about how she did it once her junior year. I was the scrawny kid that no one wanted." Jasper laughed a little again.

"All boys go through a stage like that. I've seen pictures from when I was little and I must say that age suits me. I was an ugly little kid." I laughed and shook my head.

"You're not that bad." Jasper and I laughed together again and our conversation was ended when Alice danced downstairs and hugged Jasper from behind and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"She finally had the baby."

"She did?" Alice nodded and giggled a little at my initial relief that it was over.

"Yep. And it's a boy, just like Dante knew it would be."

"That's great. So what's the little bugger's name?" Alice grinned widely.

"His name is Alphonse."

"That's a nice name." Alice nodded.

"And best of all, it's something all six of them agree on." We laughed a little under our breath and I rolled my eyes a bit. Jasper turned his head to Alice before he spoke.

"So how long does Carlisle want them to stay?"

"About five more days. They're all curious to see what Alphonse can do."

"Probably something useful."

Alice then led us upstairs so we could see the baby. Dante was holding him with Demetri, Afton, Chelsea, and Heidi looking at Alphonse over his shoulder. I had to laugh to myself when I saw Alphonse. Dante looked just like Demetri and Alphonse looked just like Dante. He had Dante's brown hair, brown eyes, his nose, Amadora's ears, Dante's lips, and Amadora's thin face.

Because Dante was curious, he asked Alphonse if there was something he wanted to show everyone. Alphonse smiled, revealing that though he had Dante's lips, he had Amadora's smile, and looked off to the corner. Solid air formed, and that solid air was emitting a ringing sound.

"It's a tenor." Everyone looked at Demetri. Afton pushed further.

"Can you hear anything from Alphonse?" Demetri shook his head.

"Not from him. His tenor's coming from that block." Dante spoke next and his voice was perplexed.

"So does that mean he's a shield that can make a ringing noise that everyone can hear?" Demetri shrugged.

"It looks that way. It could make a really good distraction method if he concentrates." Edward shook his head.

"He's not thinking about that thing right now. He doesn't seem to need to concentrate on it to keep the shield up." Everyone looked at Edward perplexed and Dante spoke.

"Are you sure?" Edward nodded.

"Positive. He remembers that it's there but he isn't putting forth any effort to keep it up like Amadora needs to." Then he looked at Alphonse with a kind smile. "Could you take down the shield please, Alphonse?" Alphonse nodded politely, then the sound and block were gone altogether. "Thank you, Alphonse." Demetri smiled.

"I think he's immune to trackers like Dante is, but in a different way. Alphonse leads trackers on a false trail while Dante can't be found at all." Afton continued.

"Do you think the block can act as a shield like Amadora's can?" Edward shook his head.

"I don't think so. Alphonse doesn't like his shield. He thinks it's scary." Dante looked at Alphonse surprised.

"Why's that, Alphonse?" Edward answered Dante with what Alphonse was thinking.

"Evidently, when the shield's around him, anything can get in, but he can't get out." Dante had an odd expression.

"So anyone can get into the shield, but once they're in, they're stuck until Alphonse takes it down?" Edward nodded.

"That's what Alphonse says." Dante grinned.

"Well since you can make the shield form far away from you, I think that might be really useful." Alphonse smiled at Dante, then reached for Heidi. Heidi took Alphonse in her arms and he started playing with her hair, which made Heidi laugh.

"He has Dante's favorite old pastime." Then Heidi started stroking Alphonse cheek with her finger. When she did that, Alphonse started nipping at her, kind of like a cat would do. "So young and he already has a good bite."

"Can I hold him?" Heidi nodded and handed Alphonse to Chelsea. When he was in her arms, he did the same thing to her. "He looks just like you, Dante."

He didn't let Afton see it, but Dante had a really proud smile when Chelsea said that to him. And it was true. Any person could easily see he was Dante's. It wasn't long before Amadora was demanding that Dante bring Alphonse back in to her. She was feeling a little better after a little rest and she wanted time with her new baby. Rosalie brought up an iron bottle for her so she could feed Alphonse and her and Dante sat together with Alphonse just looking at him while he ate.

Now that everything was okay and the baby was born, I went home and was sure to call everyone and let them know what happened. They were thrilled to hear that Alphonse and Amadora were all fine and liked hearing about his gift. I let them know that they would all be staying for a few more days before they left. As soon as I told my pack members, I called Nessie, wanting to tell her the good news. We hadn't talked in a while.

"Morning, Nessie." Despite the fact that it was a weekend morning and she was probably tired, I still heard the smile in her voice when she spoke.

"_Morning, Jacob. It's about time you called me. I was beginning to worry."_

"I know, I'm sorry. I've been at your parents house most of this week."

"_I know. Momma told me. So does this mean Amadora finally had the baby?"_ I nodded.

"Yep. A little boy named Alphonse. His shield makes a ringing sound and anyone can get in the shield, but no one can get out."

"_Sounds like a cool parlor trick. Is he immune to trackers too?"_

"Sort of. His tenor is only emitted through the shield, so a tracker can only find him if has at least a little of his shield up. And he can keep it up without even thinking about it. So he can have it up, walk away from it and do something else, it's pretty cool. He could use it as a false lead for trackers."

"_That's awesome. So who does he look like?"_

"Just like Dante. He has Amadora's ears and smile and thin face, but that's it. It's Dante all the way." Nessie giggled.

"_Do you think our kids will look just like you?"_

"I hope not. I want them to look like you. They might get somewhere in life if they look like you." Nessie giggled again.

"_They'd be beautiful if they looked like you. I can see it now, Jacob. Little kids with black hair and brown eyes with your smile and tan skin. They'd be perfect."_ I shook my head.

"No they wouldn't. Bronze hair, brown eyes, and your smile. Then they'd be perfect. But as long as they're not stupid like me, then they'll be fine."

"_You're not stupid, Jacob. You have common sense and that's more than a lot of people can say. I've met plenty of people that know how to solve a physics problem but don't understand basic common decency or any sense of people around them."_

"That's something, I guess. But you have both. I don't even think I've ever seen you study."

"_I study. I just don't always need to study as long. I have to study with calculus and physics."_

"Everyone needs to study with calculus and physics."

"_There you go. So how're you doing? You didn't come to see me last weekend or this weekend."_

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave the pack with the current situation."

"_I know. I understand."_ I smiled.

"I could come now." There was a silence at the other end a moment, then when she spoke, it was thick with anticipation.

"_I expect you here by nine."_ I chuckled and nodded my head.

"You've got it Nessie."

With that said, I hung up the phone and went straight for the woods. I changed into my wolf form and made a mad dash for Chicago. Like usual, I skipped into Canada where there was thicker forests and less people to worry about along the border. As soon as I saw the sign in Canada that welcomed me to Wisconsin, I ran even faster. It was still light out, so I was confident that I was making really good time. After such a hectic two weeks, I was looking forward to being with Nessie and letting go for a few days.


	28. Holiday

**Holiday**

**NPOV**

It was the last day of my first semester of classes before I got to go home for winter break. I'd already signed up for next semester classes and had my schedule ready. I had Professor Del Toro for math again, so I was looking forward to that. As airheaded as the man was sometimes, he was a really good math teacher.

Jacob was coming to pick me up later today to take me home. It was the first time he drove to Illinois since the college visit with momma and daddy. Every other time, he just ran. I had all my things packed and ready to go and was really impatient and wanted to see Jacob. I wanted to see everyone again and ask how they were and see Ryan and Valerie and see Alphonse.

From what Jacob told me, Demetri and Afton's coven had promised to come to our home for Christmas. Felix was coming too as well as Corin and the twins. I hadn't seen them since the wedding, same with all the others. Samantha had already gone home earlier this morning, so I had the room to myself for the time being.

When I heard my phone, I all but leaped from my bed and went to my phone to answer it. When I answered it, I heard Jacob's cheerful voice telling me he was outside waiting for me. I ran to the window and saw him leaning against the trunk of the Rabbit and he waved at me and I waved back. I hung up the phone and grabbed my things before running downstairs to the parking lot. Jacob was waiting at the door and took a few of my bags and we walked to his car to put my things in the trunk. When they were all in, I hugged him tight.

"I missed everyone." Jacob smiled.

"Yeah, I know. They missed you too. Alice is throwing you a party and everything." I looked up at Jacob.

"She is?" Jacob chuckled.

"No, not really. But it's believable isn't it?" He laughed and I eventually joined and rolled my eyes.

"It is believable I suppose. Dante and Amadora came with Alphonse, right? I wanted to meet him." Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, they came. Alphonse is already talking and walking. And he favors Demetri whenever he's in trouble evidently."

"Demetri?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. He got into Esme's things the other day, Dante was telling him not to so he ran to Amadora, then Amadora found out what he was doing and started lecturing him too, then he went straight to Demetri and he defended him. It's kind of cute in an odd way."

"I figured he would favor Heidi in a situation like that." Jacob shrugged.

"That's what I thought too. But evidently, Heidi's sterner about this sort of stuff and Demetri tends to be a little more lenient. It's not by much, but it's enough that Alphonse knows to go to Demetri whenever he's in trouble." I giggled.

"He sounds adorable. Is there a particular food he discovered he likes?" Jacob nodded.

"Bread and vinegar." I have Jacob a weird look.

"Vinegar?" Jacob nodded and chuckled.

"Odd, isn't it?" I nodded and Jacob smiled a little wider.

"Very." Jacob squeezed my hands and bent his head down to give me a kiss that I happily returned. Before I could make the kiss passionate, he pulled away with his same smile.

"Let's get going. I promised everyone that I'd have you home by tonight, so we have a lot of ground to cover. You have your passport right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I do."

"Good. It's faster to go through Canada. They only have one road." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"No they don't." Jacob chuckled and shook his head.

"Never mind. It was a little South Park joke. Kyle made everyone go to Canada to get back his brother Ike and there was only one road. They were making fun of the Wizard of Oz." I shrugged.

"I'll take your word for it, Jacob." He smiled.

"I should make you watch that episode. It's really a funny one. My favorite was Scott Tenormen Must Die, but that's just me." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"Isn't that the one where Cartmen makes a kid eat his parents in chilly?" Jacob nodded with a bit of a laugh.

"Yeah, it is. That and the Halloween episode that had Korn in it and they were trying to solve a mystery like Scooby Doo. But instead of a Great Dane playing Scooby, they had a…mutated...chicken…thing. I'm not sure what that thing was, but either way, it was really good."

"I'm sure." Jacob chuckled and kissed my forehead before we got into his car and were trying to get back home. We went through Wisconsin within a half hour at the speed Jacob was going and were in Canada within the hour.

It took the whole day to get through Canada and to Washington. By the time we reached the border, it was midnight and we wouldn't get to Forks until three in the morning. When we were finally home, Jacob and I went right upstairs and just fell into bed to go to sleep. We could always get my bags in the morning. Jacob and I were both woken up later that morning by the sound of the house phone ringing. Jacob turned over, falling on top of me while I was lying on my stomach and I groaned from it.

"Jacob, answer the phone, please." He groaned again.

"Could you? You're closer."

"No I'm not." Then I opened my eyes and saw the phone on the counter closest to me and sighed to myself. I reached over to grab the phone and my voice was thick with sleep when I spoke. "Hello?"

"_Well, good morning to you too."_ I couldn't help but smile to myself when I heard Alice's cheerful voice.

"Sorry, Alice. Jacob and I didn't fall asleep until three thirty when we got home. We're still really tired."

"_I know, Nessie, I just wanted to call and make sure you guys got home safe. I can't see you two, remember?"_ Alice and I shared a laugh, though mine was really weak and quiet.

"That's true I suppose. We got home fine, so no worries there."

"_That's good to know, Nessie. I'll go ahead and let you two sleep some more, but we expect you guys to come over when you're well rested, okay."_ I nodded.

"Sure thing, Alice, as soon as we got some more sleep."

"_Good. I can't wait to see you honey."_ I said the same to Alice and we hung up. Jacob got off me a little and kept his arm around my waist.

"What time is it, Nessie?" I glanced at the clock.

"Five."

"You can't be serious." Then Jacob opened his eyes and looked at the clock and groaned. "Why would Tinkerbelle call us at this hour?"

"Because she was concerned like any normal relative would be and wanted to call and see how we were doing. Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm grumpy. I don't like being woken up at ungodly hours like five in the morning." I giggled and rolled my eyes while turning in Jacob's arms.

"Just go back to sleep, Jacob." Jacob nodded into my neck and was asleep moments later. I was asleep again shortly after him.

When I woke up again, it was one in the afternoon and the sun was covered by its usual blanket of clouds and it was snowing a little outside. The roads would probably be icy. I wasn't looking forward to January in Chicago. I'd heard from far too many people about how famously cold Chicago gets thanks to Lake Michigan and it was always at its worst in January.

I pulled myself out of Jacob's arms and went to downstairs to Jacob's car to get my things so I could take a shower and brush my teeth. Jacob woke up from the sound of the shower and was in the bathroom with me shortly after. He shaved and brushed his teeth before walking into the shower with me and getting himself clean too.

"Are all our guests here?" Jacob nodded.

"Most of them got here yesterday. Lia and Ada-María are excited to see you."

"Me too. I haven't seen them since the wedding." Jacob and I hugged each other tightly and I kissed his chest.

"So how long can you stay before you have to go back?"

"The semester starts January 5th." Jacob grinned and kissed my head.

"Awesome. That's a good month." Jacob kissed the top of my head again and hugged me tighter.

We finished our shower and dried each other off before going to our closet to get dressed. I didn't need to pack clothes to go home. I had enough clothes at home that I didn't take with me that I could go for a long time, same with college. I was dressed a few minutes after Jacob. He just stuck with jeans and a white sweater. I smiled when he was done while I was putting on my red sweater.

"I really do like you in sweaters." Jacob shrugged.

"If you're happy, I'm happy." I grinned and fixed my hair.

"Shall we go?" Jacob nodded.

"Sure."

Jacob took a hold of my hand and we walked down to the car and made our way to my family's house. When we got to the house, my family was there, but all our guests were out hunting and would be back later. I was a little disappointed with that. I really wanted to meet Alphonse. When I walked into the house, momma was the first one to rush over to me and give me a hug with Alice, Rosalie, and Esme following closely behind.

"Welcome home, Renesmee." Momma was hugging me long before she finished talking and I was surrounded by everyone as she spoke.

"I missed you guys."

"We missed you too." After momma said that, daddy pushed passed Alice and Rosalie and hugged me with momma.

"It's weird not having you close by." I nodded.

"I know what you mean, daddy. I never thought I'd miss constant rain. I never thought I'd miss Ryan and Valerie's bickering either." Daddy chuckled and patted my head.

"We'll give them something to argue about, just for you." Then daddy laughed a little more and I looked over his shoulder at Ryan and Valerie. Valerie looked right at Ryan with a critical look.

"I thought I asked you to stop snoring, Ryan." Ryan looked at Valerie confused, completely off guard.

"I don't snore and you know it."

"Should I record you sleeping? Because I will just to prove it to you. I'll stay up all night and record you sleeping so you can hear it for yourself. It's like a bear growling."

"And you're one to talk? How about all the babbling you do about nothing? You talk way too much and that's a lot worse than stupid old snoring."

"I do not talk too much. I'm very reserved."

"You're as reserved as the Mad Hatter. You're as sane as him, too."

As Ryan and Valerie kept arguing, I laughed to myself and rolled my eyes at them while everyone else walked away not wanting to listen to them argue about nothing. Just because I missed them so much, I stood next to them and listened to them argue until it ended with Ryan glaring at Valerie for a moment and giving up on the argument.

Felix and Lia were the first ones to come back from hunting about an hour after I got home. Lia ran over to me the moment she saw me and gave me a tight hug telling me how much she missed me. I noticed when Lia was hugging me that Ryan started looking at Lia strangely. It wasn't a bad kind of strange, but it was something different. I looked at daddy with my mental question and he just shrugged.

"You and I can catch up later, alright Nessie." I nodded.

"Sure thing, daddy."

"So, Nessie, tell me what college is like." Lia dragged me to the couch and sat us down as she asked her question. Jacob took a seat next to me on the free spot on the couch while I answered.

"It's nice. I don't like that I'm so far from home, but other than that, it's a really nice experience. But I'll admit, it gets old really fast, especially when your building is right next door to a fraternity house that has parties every chance they get."

"Have you gone to any of them?"

"I go sometimes. My roommate's usually the one to convince me to go."

"What's your roommate's name?"

"Samantha. She's from Chicago, so she left for home before me. All she has to do is go back to the Northwest suburbs and she's home. That's a thirty minute drive in good traffic, but she usually takes the train to Itasca where her parents pick her up."

"It must be nice to still be close to home. I hear you're majoring in business management." I nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing." Lia smiled.

"How long will that take you do you think?"

"Since I tested out of my gen. ed. classes, I'll have my degree in a year and a half." Lia smiled more.

"That's great, Nessie! The sooner you're back home, the better." I smiled at Lia's eagerness and we were joined by Ada-María, who hugged me around my neck. Marcelo walked over with a big smile.

"Renesmee, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"You too, Marcelo. How've you been?" He smiled and shrugged.

"Surviving, meu encantadora. Surviving." I smiled at him and was greeted by Yaretzi soon after.

I wasn't surprised that Nahuel and the rest of his family weren't here, but I was a little sad. I missed seeing them. Nahuel and his aunt were really nice and his sisters were sweet too when they got over their grievance with me concerning their father. When Corin and the twins got back with Demetri and Afton's coven shortly thereafter, Octavia greeted me enthusiastically with a small smiled coming from Armando.

I went straight to Amadora and Dante to meet Alphonse. He looked so much like Dante and he was really shy. Whenever he met someone new, he would hide his face in Amadora's coat and wouldn't let you see him again for several minutes. Once he was used to me, Amadora let me hold him for a few minutes. Alphonse, to my surprise, wasn't much of a talker. He was really quiet compared to his parents. My guess was he got that from Demetri.

He was an adventurer like Dante, though. When I put him down, he was off looking through the house trying to find something new and interesting. Dante followed him through the house making sure he didn't get into anything he shouldn't. An hour later, Alphonse came back downstairs because he was tired and went to Demetri. Demetri was sitting with Felix talking with one of his legs perched up on Esme's table. When Alphonse got to Demetri, he perched on Demetri's leg and fell asleep. I just wanted to cuddle Alphonse when I saw that. It was the cutest thing ever. Felix thought so too.

"That's adorable." Demetri smiled and nodded.

"I know. He's a cute little kid."

"And he looks like you. I wonder how many generations it'll take before the mother's genes have any influence at all." Demetri chuckled.

"Amadora's there. Alphonse has her smile and ears." Felix laughed.

"Barely."

Demetri and Felix laughed a little while they watched Alphonse take a nap on Demetri's leg. Later that night, all the half breeds were tired and took a spot in the house to get some sleep. I was tired too, so Jacob and I made our way home. Daddy and momma came with us to have a little more time together. When we got back, we all went to the living room and the first thing that came to my mind was what I'd asked daddy earlier. He just smiled and answered me.

"He has a crush on her, that much you already know."

"I thought boys his age hated girls." Daddy chuckled and shrugged.

"He would if he'd never met Lia. For a while, he thought all girls were overly talkative and annoying. He thinks Lia's a lot sweeter and that she's really cute." I smiled and shook my head.

"Do Emmett and Rosalie know he has a crush on Lia?" Daddy nodded.

"Emmett figured it out and told Rosalie about it. She thinks it'll pass eventually. I think so too honestly." I shrugged.

"You never know." Momma and Jacob were looking at us questioningly.

"What are we talking about?" Daddy looked at momma and smiled.

"We're talking about Ryan. He has a crush on Lia and we're debating whether it'll last or not." Jacob smiled and shrugged.

"I doubt it. Kids Ryan's age are really fickle." I shook my head.

"He liked her the last time he saw her too."

"Fickle doesn't necessarily mean it'll be over like that. I'm just saying that once he starts going to school and seeing other girls, he might change his mind, same thing with Valerie and that little crush she has on Titus."

"That's different. That's a girl having a crush on an older man. This is Ryan having a crush on a girl closer to his age."

"A crush is a crush, Nessie. I used to have a huge crush on Leah, and that ended as soon as it started." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"I don't doubt it, Jacob. Speaking of Leah, how's she getting along with Hailey?" Jacob smiled.

"It's going great. Mrs. Stanley goes out with her friends a lot and Mr. Stanley does the same, so she's always got an opportunity to babysit him. He never throws food at her like he does with his mom, he doesn't cry much with her, he's always napping, and they watch movies and play games together. I've never seen her so happy."

"Will she be able to spend time with him over Christmas?" Jacob shook his head.

"They're going to Mexico for winter break and Hailey and Mike and Jessica are going with them. So Leah's all ours for Christmas. She did get him a present, though."

"That's sweet." Daddy spoke next.

"We were sure to get him something too. Esme thought it would be nice to get him a pair of footy pajamas and the rest of us just got him toys. Leah got him a new toy too."

"It wasn't a tickle me Elmo or something, was it?" Everyone had a quick laugh and shook their heads.

"No. It was a little stuffed pig toy. Leah sings a song to him about pigs and he really likes it, so she got him a toy pig."

"That's so cute. I can't wait until Hailey's older." Jacob laughed.

"Neither can we. The way Leah thinks of him is so odd. When you were little, we had sort of a brother sister kind of relationship. With Leah and Hailey, it's more like a mother son thing. And it's really weird."

"How will that turn into affection if they're more like mother and son?" Jacob shrugged.

"It'll probably happen the same way it did for the rest of us. One day, she'll just realize that she loves him in a deeper way than before and go from there." Momma spoke.

"How do you think Mr. and Mrs. Stanley will handle that? I can't imagine they'd be okay with an eighteen year old dating a forty five year old woman."

"We asked Leah about that and she doesn't want to think about that. She would never admit to this, but she's kind of hoping his parents will lose interest or maybe die somehow before that can become an issue. I don't blame her either." I looked at Jacob questioningly.

"But if he's eighteen, what right do his parents have to tell him he can't marry whomever he wants? It's not like he can't just move in with Leah and get married to her after that. He'll be a legal adult, so his parents really have no say in it." Daddy spoke next.

"Not necessarily. His parents could accuse Leah of statutory rape if they can prove that the relationship was going on before Hailey was of legal age. And as far as the state of Washington is concerned, if Hailey's a minor, his willingness in the relationship is irrelevant." Jacob nodded.

"Hence the reason Leah's hoping something will happen before this can become an issue. And if the rest of us are any indication, she'll start having romantic feelings for him as soon as he feels that way. That could mean as young as fourteen or so. It all depends."

"What if they explained it to his parents?" Jacob shook his head at my thought.

"They're outside the tribe, so it's not something they're allowed to know. The only reason your parents know and Claire's and Emily's and Kim's and Billy know is because we're all within the tribe or allies of it. So them knowing isn't an issue. But Hailey's parents are neither members or allies, so it's technically against tribal law for them to know about all this."

"Aren't you technically the chief, Jacob?"

"Technically, but that's not a law I can rightfully change and frankly, I'm not going to change it just to accommodate one couple."

"I never said anything about changing the law. I meant make an exception for Hailey and Leah."

"Nessie, I swear if Hailey's parents weren't the way they are, I honestly would make an exception. But to be blunt, I don't trust them. And if I don't trust them, I'm not letting them know." I sighed.

"So what are they going to do?" Jacob shrugged.

"We'll wait and see what happens. We'll worry about all this when it's appropriate to worry about it. Hailey's only three or four months old, so worrying about it now is kind of stupid."

"It's never too soon to be prepared." Jacob smiled and shrugged before kissing my forehead.

"Alright, dear." Momma and daddy joined me in a quick laugh.

Momma and daddy stayed and talked with us for another hour and Jacob left at sundown to go on patrol. When daddy heard that I was getting really tired, he and momma hugged me goodbye and left. I took a shower and went to bed and was asleep in minutes when my head rested on my pillow.

When I woke up that morning, Jacob wasn't in bed with me, and that surprised me a lot. I heard a frying sound from downstairs and got up to go downstairs. When I got to the kitchen, I saw Jacob with a spatula in hand ready to flip something. It smelled like an omelet with ham, bacon, and sausage. Jacob looked over his shoulder and smiled at me.

"Morning, Nessie. How'd you sleep?"

"Decently. I was sad that you weren't there when I woke up." Jacob gave me a guilty smile and took his omelet off the heat and walked over to me and hugged me.

"I'm sorry, Nessie. I got back a half hour ago and I thought you'd be asleep longer." I smiled and kissed his chin.

"I understand. Finish cooking your omelet. I'll go upstairs and take a shower while you eat, okay." Jacob smiled and nodded.

"Alright Nessie." Jacob kissed the top of my head and I turned back to go upstairs and got in the shower. I tried to finish as fast as I could. It wouldn't take Jacob long to eat his omelet.

When I was done with my shower, I dried of and washed my face and brushed my teeth before going back into my room. I saw Jacob laying in bed on his back with his hands resting under his head and a big smile. I smiled back and walked over to him, still holding up the towel from my shower.

"You went through that omelet pretty fast." Jacob grinned and shrugged.

"It was a good omelet."

"Since when do you know how to cook?" When I was standing next to his side of the bed, his right hand left his pillow and he pushed aside a portion of my towel and rested his hand on my hip.

"Sam got tired of me eating them out of house and home and asked Emily to teach me how to cook." I giggled.

"I'll have to thank her. But you won't have to cook while I'm home." Jacob smiled wider and squeezed my hip.

"That's a relief. Just because I know how doesn't mean I like it." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"It's a miracle you eat when I'm not here." Jacob grinned and brought his other hand to my waist and pulled me down onto him and we laughed a little together.

"You have no idea, baby. They've told you I forget to eat sometimes, right?" I giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, I've been told that. I've also been told that you eat plates and forks." Jacob chuckled and nodded his head.

"Only when I'm lost in thought. And just so you know, that's usually your fault." I giggled and tightened my arms around Jacob's neck and rolled my eyes.

"That's right, Jacob, blame me for everything." Jacob stopped our laughter with a kiss on my lips that was instantly passionate.

I fell into the kiss eagerly and brought my legs up so I was cradling his hips. Both of his hands rested on my hips and moved up under my towel, gradually getting it off. By the time his hands were resting on my breasts, the towel had fallen off and was quickly forgotten by us both.

My hands traveled up into his hair and I started pulling on each strand trying to hold onto him desperately. Jacob was still only wearing his sweats from the patrol, so I took a hold of them with my toes and pushed them down until they were far enough for him to kick off himself. Then Jacob was bare as me and I held onto him even tighter.

Jacob's right hand went to my breast and massaged it lovingly while his left had started moving around my hip. He took his lips away from mine and took my breast in his mouth and kissed and sucked lovingly. My neck seemed to turn to jelly and I kept my eyes closed to intensify what I was feeling. His left hand moved between us and his thumb caressed my nub fiercely.

I moaned his name while he teased me and as I moaned, his forefinger and middle finger entered me to tease me even more. My nails dug into his skin trying to bring him closer to me. I breathed in his scent as I'm sure he did with me and I felt like I was on a drug. His fingers moved relentlessly while he played with my nub and I was fighting screams, settling for loud moans that I kept muffled by biting onto my bottom lip.

"This is usually the part when I start chewing on forks or plates." I laughed a little, knowing what he was talking about.

"It's hardly my fault that you think about such things while you're eating, Jacob." Jacob chuckled against my breast and moved his fingers a little faster before taking them from me and trailing back up my hip and waist.

"Yeah it is." Jacob's voice was teasing and he laughed a little at my whimpering when his fingers left me.

Jacob kissed both my breasts once more before he started kissing down my ribcage and to my bellybutton. He swirled his tongue around my bellybutton a few times before he continued going down. He kissed the inside of both my thighs teasingly while my fingers threaded through his hair and held on tight. He put two fingers inside me again and loved my nub with the tip of his tongue the way he knew I loved.

I moaned his name while Jacob's fingers and tongue worked wonders. My grip repeatedly tightened and released while he worked and my eyes kept rolling further into the back on my head. I moaned his name over and over again and it made him more eager and move his fingers faster and harder while his tongue circled around my nub. When I was close to coming, Jacob took his fingers and tongue away and I whined.

"Don't stop, Jacob." Jacob smiled against my skin as he kissed his way back up my body.

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'm not."

After he said that, he continued kissing up my waist and sucked on both my breasts as he went up. My fingers stayed threaded through his hair as he came up and his hands stayed at my hips. When he kissed his way to my neck, he sucked on my skin and trailed up my neck. He bit my ear gently when he reached it and his tongue swirled around lovingly and he brought my legs back around his hips sharply.

I forced Jacob's lips to mine and kissed him passionately, to which he happily agreed. As we kissed, Jacob finally entered me and didn't waste any time with moving slowly. He was immediately thrusting quickly and I was moaning loudly into his mouth. Jacob was groaning as he moved and his hands forced mine above my head and he laced his fingers through mine and moved all that much faster. I came after a few thrusts, but Jacob kept moving.

Since he didn't stop, I never came down from my high. I stayed in that high and seemed to go a little higher as he kept moving. Jacob took his mouth away from mine and brought them to my neck. He bit my neck lovingly and I bit my bottom lip to keep from being too loud. I forced my hands out of Jacob's so I could wrap my arms around his shoulders and dug my nails into his skin like I so desperately wanted to. Then I pushed Jacob so he was on his back and I was on top and took over from there.

Jacob's hands went to my hips and he pulled me as I moved and my hands rested on his chest for balance. Jacob was breathing harshly and were groaning and saying my name as I moved. I couldn't move quite as fast as Jacob could, but I moved as fast as the position would allow and I kept biting my bottom lip to keep from screaming. Eventually, Jacob grabbed a hold of my wrists and forced me down and took my lips with his as he took over again.

My fingers threaded through his hair again and I held onto him tightly as I could as he thrust into me over and over again. I was whimpering now and I was so close to coming again. Jacob knew and he kept thrusting as fast as he could. Before long, I came again and Jacob followed shortly thereafter. When we were both spent, Jacob kept his arms around me and kissed my cheek, my nose, my mouth, my neck, everything he could possibly kiss.

"This is what you think about when you're having dinner, huh?" Jacob started laughing with what little strength he had left at the moment and nodded his head.

"Yes, Nessie, this is what I'm thinking about whenever I have time to get lost in thought." I giggled and kissed his chin.

"No wonder daddy doesn't let you eat at the house." Instead of laughing with me, he hugged me tighter.

"I don't just think about these moments we have. I think about you in general. For lack of a better way to say it, I'm kind of trying to picture you still being at home. I'll daydream about you cooking, I daydream about you doing your homework, I even daydream about us arguing sometimes." I grinned and looked up into Jacob's eyes.

"I do the same thing. Granted I don't eat silver wear while doing it, but I think about you doing every day things all the time." Jacob nodded.

"It makes it feel like the other isn't really that far away."

"True." I kissed Jacob's chest and rested my head on my nook while Jacob hugged me a little tighter. We would have to leave soon to go to my family's house, but I was reluctant to get up. "I hate to say this, Jacob, but we better get ready."

"For what?' I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"We need to get dressed and go to my parent's house."

"Can't we have one day to ourselves?"

"That's what New Years is for, remember? You and I are spending New Years together, and spending Christmas with the family." Jacob sighed.

"Alright, alright." I smiled and kissed Jacob's chest again.

"Did Billy say whether or not Rebecca and John were coming?" Jacob shook his head.

"They're having Christmas with his family this year. And after Christmas, he's being stationed somewhere else."

"Is it still in the U.S?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, it's still American waters. I think Billy said they're moving to Alaska."

"That's nice. Will they be anywhere near the Denalis?" Jacob shook his head.

"I don't think so. They're being stationed on one of the islands where the naval base is. It won't even be that cold on the island compared to the mainland."

"That's good at least. Are they looking forward to it?" Jacob chuckled.

"The only thing they're looking forward to is the large supply of crabs they'll have access to. Evidently, people living there can go to the shoreline and pick up as many Alaskan King Crabs as their heart desires and go to a little post that butchers the crabs for them."

"That sounds nice if you really like crab." Jacob grinned.

"I'd go to Alaska for that."

"We could always visit the Denalis in Alaska if you want to."

"They're not near water. Denali's further inland."

"It's not like we couldn't drive to the shoreline. We could be there under an hour." Jacob chuckled.

"In that snow? I don't think so. Even Edward couldn't drive safely in those kinds of conditions. Not only is it hard to pick up speed to begin with, it's almost impossible to keep control of the car once you are that fast." I sighed.

"Whatever you say, honey. And while I'm thinking about it, I should ask Aida if she's free any time soon. She knows I'm back."

"Are you planning on telling Madison you're back?"

"She probably already knows too. I won't need to call her, she'll call me."

"Probably. I'll hang out with the guys while you Aida and Madison do something together. Aida scares me and Madison's voice is a little too high pitched for me." I giggled and shook my head at him.

"Don't say bad things about my friends, Jacob." Jacob kept a big smile as he spoke.

"I'm not, baby. I'm just being honest."

Jacob gave me a fast kiss, then lifted himself from bed and walked to the closet to get dressed. I stayed in bed a moment and stretched myself out, trying to get out all the kinks in my body. Jacob came out while pulling on his black t-shirt while I was stretching and he laughed a little bit.

"I thought you said we needed to get going." I nodded.

"Indeed we do."

"Then why aren't you getting dressed?" I smiled and got on all fours and crawled to the end of the bed, never taking my eyes off Jacob's. When I was at the end of the bed, I threw my legs over the edge and sat there, crossing my legs.

"I'm getting there. Don't rush me, Jacob." Jacob chuckled and walked over to me and leaned down to give me a kiss, resting his hands on either side of me.

"So it's okay for you to rush me, but not for me to rush you, is that it?" I nodded.

"You're catching on quick, Jacob." Jacob laughed a little and I kissed his nose before sliding off the edge of the bed and under his arms so I could walk to the closet and get dressed.

When I got to the closet, I went to my drawer and pulled out a bra and panties, making sure they matched. It was a little pet peeve that Alice taught me. These sorts of things needed to match or it bothered me. Half my clothing peeves were learned by Alice. I heard Jacob walk into the closet while I was getting dressed and I smiled when he clasped my bra for me. When that was done, his hands trailed to my shoulders and stayed there, rubbing the bones with his thumbs.

"Thanks, love."

"You're welcome."

Then he reached up and grabbed a white long sleeve shirt for me and handed it to me while I bent down to get my jeans. While I got my shirt and [ants on, Jacob walked over to the wall that had all my shoes and said my name to get my attention.

"Nessie, what pair of shoes are you in the mood for?" I looked over at the wall and looked at everything I had. I pointed at a pair of boots that reached the ankle that was buckled and bright red suede.

"I'm proud of you, Jacob. That's a wonderful shoe choice." Jacob pretended to look mad.

"Don't rub it in my face, Nessie. And never tell anyone about this. The last thing I need is Paul calling me a fruit." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"Paul's in no position to say things like that to you and you both know it. Rachael's filled me in on a few of the feminine habits Paul took to." Jacob laughed and nodded.

"He definitely dresses nicer since he and Rachael got married."

"And Jared pays more attention to his hair, thanks to Kim." Jacob shrugged.

"That just comes with having a wife who's a hair dresser."

"And a good one at that. If it wouldn't hurt Alice's feelings, I'd let Kim do my hair. I'd even pay her." Jacob chuckled.

"I would too if Tinkerbelle didn't have me on a leash." I giggled and nodded my head.

"She does it because she loves us, remember that."

"She loves you, Nessie. I'm just the bum you married and she tolerates me for you."

"Oh, Jacob, that's not true and you know it. My family likes you. They've even gotten over the smell they claim is there."

"They have to. My scent rubs off on you." I gave Jacob a lecturing look and he just smiled.

"That's not true, Jacob. If they had to tolerate you, we would've never gotten married. Daddy would've killed you before we could." Jacob shrugged.

"I guess." I smiled at him and walked over to him, only inches from being nose to nose thanks to my shoes, and hugged him.

"Now that we've cleared that up, let's go. I'd hate to keep them all waiting."

I gave Jacob a quick kiss, then grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him with me out of the closet and to the garage. We took Jacob's car to the house and Lia and Ada-María grinned when they saw me and took the bulk of my attention as soon as I'd said good morning to everyone else. Jacob went to the living room and took a seat on the couch with Jasper, Felix, and Demetri watching the game. Alphonse was outside with Dante, Amadora, Ryan, and Valerie playing.

Daddy and momma were in the music room and I asked them where everyone else was. Evidently, most of the house had gone out hunting and they'd all be back a little later in the day. Ada-María and Lia took me upstairs where they were sharing a room and I let Ada-María play with my hair while we all talked.

"So guess what, Nessie." I was about to look around at Ada-María, but she forced my head back to the way it had been.

"What?" Lia grinned along with Ada-María.

"Huilen met someone." I didn't let her force my head back this time when I looked at her.

"Really?"

"Yep. His name is Pablo Urrutia. He's a vampire from Uruguay and he's a Desesperado." My eyes widened.

"He is?" She nodded.

"Yeah. He was changed in 1976, so he's a pretty recent vampire. His mother still goes to Argentina every year with a little white sash praying for him to come home."

"That's so sad." Ada-María nodded.

"Yeah, it is. He was pretty traumatized by what he saw when he was taken away from his family. He saw children get run over by a large jeep while being forced to stand in a perfect line, he's been tortured, and all that. He would be dead if he hadn't escaped. He and a group of other refugees were trying to run away to Mexico, and that's when they were attacked by vampires. He and seven others got away with just bites, and now he's a vampire."

"That's awful." Ada-María nodded at Lia.

"Yeah, it is. He's really timid, he's cynical, he doesn't talk much, he hardly ever smiles, he jumps at the slightest loud sound, the man's a mess." Lia looked at her questioningly.

"If he's like that, how did he and Huilen get together in the first place?" Ada-María shrugged.

"I have no clue. She wasn't even the one that told us they were mates now. We had to notice they were both wearing wedding bands. When we asked her why she didn't tell us, she just shrugged and said, 'It never came up'." She and Lia giggled and I was still a bit stunned to laugh.

"How long have they been married?"

"They were married before you and Jacob, and we just now found out about it. He already traveled with her and Nahuel, so Nahuel didn't notice anything odd. But then again, Nahuel's so oblivious at times." Lia smiled.

"That's a bit extreme of an oversight, wouldn't you say?"

"We don't talk to each other much, what can I say? Nahuel and Huilen, and now Pablo, travel around, my parents and I travel elsewhere, and the rest of my aunts travel together in another part. Huilen and Nahuel used to stay towards the middle of Brazil, now they stay closer to the borderline of Uruguay, my parents and I usually stay towards the coastline, and my aunts are usually further north towards Venezuela." Lia looked surprised.

"I always thought you guys were closer than that." Ada-María shook her head.

"Not even close. Besides, it's not like you guys are really close." Lia shook her head.

"That's different. We aren't all related like you guys are. Daddy and I stay in Rome, but that's because that's where daddy grew up."

"And what about the others? Do they stay in Italy?" Lia shook her head.

"Before Dante and Amadora started dating, Demetri's coven stayed mostly in Slavic country, like Poland, Russia, Germany, those kinds of places. Afton's coven was usually in Italy because Chelsea prefers Italy. Jane and Alec are living in primarily London last time daddy checked, Corin's coven is usually in France or Spain, and Marcus and his coven stay in Greece." I spoke next.

"Whatever happened to Renata?" Lia shrugged.

"I don't rightly know. Jane and Alec saw her once since The Volturi came apart. Evidently, she's mostly in Italy too, but we've never seen her."

"Does she have hard feelings or something?" Lia shook her head at my question.

"I don't think so. She's never really been friends with anyone in the coven, so it's not surprising that she wouldn't join anyone's coven. She and Heidi were kind of friends, but they were more frenemies than anything. That's how it felt to me, anyway."

"I never took them to be friends at all." Lia shrugged at me.

"It's hard to say, honestly. Enough about that. Tell us about what you've been up to." Ada-María stopped playing with my hair and took a seat next to Lia with a big smile on her face.

"Marcelo wanted to know how you and Jacob are doing. I think he's waiting for any opportunity to step in and be the good guy when Jacob screws up." I shook my head.

"I doubt Marcelo would do that. It wouldn't be beyond him to take advantage of the situation if it was to occur, but he took what I told him really well." Lia looked confused.

"What did you tell him?" Ada-María answered for me.

"She told him that if she'd never had Jacob, she would've chosen Marcelo." Lia looked at me surprised.

"He took that well?" I sighed.

"There was more to it than that. You watch, Ada-María. Marcelo will find someone and he's probably already over me." She shook her head.

"Not really. He's not zombie-like or anything, but he's sad about it. He doesn't even sleep with his female victims anymore." I sighed.

"That's a good thing at least." Ada-María shrugged.

"In a manner."

I didn't bother asking her to elaborate on her statement. I wanted to talk about something else. The last thing I wanted was to have someone tell me how miserable I made someone by marrying another, whether that's what she meant to do or not. Ada-María and Marcelo were close, so it was only natural she'd be concerned about him.

When Yaretzi, Rafael, and Marcelo got back, me and the girls went back downstairs and I started talking to Yaretzi and Marcelo. Yaretzi and Marcelo were just as eager to hear me talk about college as anyone else was. I was proud of Jacob when he didn't immediately walk up behind me when Marcelo and I started talking. He glanced over and looked at Marcelo critically, but he turned away when I gave him a reassuring smile.

"So tell me, Renesmee. Is college as hectic and overdramatic as I hear?" I shrugged at Marcelo's question.

"It depends. There's almost always a party going on. Just last week, one of the sororities threw a Christmas party for everyone and there was enough eggnog to fill a large pool." Marcelo laughed and Yaretzi giggled a little.

"You're not partaking in such things while still underage I hope." I rolled my eyes at Marcelo with a smile.

"I don't like anything. Why would I drink alcohol when I know I don't like it?"

"You know what's fun, though, if you drink the blood of a human that has a really high alcohol level, you could get a little hammered yourself. It has to be a really high level, though. I'm talking, at least .19."

"Wouldn't that kill someone?" Marcelo shook his head.

"Not at all. It just makes them drunk out of their mind and they can't really function normally. Death becomes possible around .30 and up. When you go over .40, death is certain."

"Well, duh. How would someone even be able to take in that much?"

"It's been done."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him and Marcelo just laughed triumphantly. He definitely wasn't too beaten up over me and Jacob getting married. Sad, maybe, but he'd definitely get over it.

When it was Christmas day, Billy and Charlie were at the house early to watch the game with Jasper and Emmett. Jacob and I got there closer to noon and Ada-María and Lia immediately wanted my attention when I got there. I smiled when I saw Demetri and Felix talking in the kitchen and Demetri had his leg perched on a chair with Alphonse sleeping on it. Heidi was sitting on Demetri's lap and rubbing Alphonse's back soothingly. Daddy and momma were back at the cottage and hadn't come over yet. Rosalie, Alice, and Esme were putting some last minute touches on the tree and Carlisle was prepping food for Esme when she would cook later.

Seth and his family were coming as were Paul and Rachael. Sam and Emily were having Christmas with her family this year and Jared and Kim were having their own family gathering. Once dinner was ready to start, daddy and momma were over and helped make the food. Those that were eating ate their food while everyone sat around the large table and talked. Ryan, not so subtly, made a point to sit next to Lia and was talking to her for most of dinner. Lia talked to him with a smile while Felix ignored everyone trying to talk to him staring at Ryan.

Jacob and I held hands under the table for most of dinner, but with daddy near, we didn't do anything provocative. After dinner, we all opened our presents together. Alice went out of her way to get me well supplied for school, clothes wise. Though I certainly wasn't complaining, seeing all the lovely shoes she got for me. She paid the same courtesy to Jacob with many, many new clothes.

When New Years came along, Jacob and I went downtown to watch a fireworks show together. We were father away from the baseball stadium that was shooting them, but we could see them just fine. Jacob got us a spot at the top of a really tall building in the city and the view was wondrous. Jacob and I leaned against something that was on the rooftop and I rested my head on his chest as we watched the fireworks. When it was over, I hugged Jacob tightly.

"That was great."

"Wasn't it? I wish they did this sort of thing more often."

"Me too. You turning twenty three is certainly something to celebrate."

"That was four days ago." I giggled.

"That doesn't mean I can't say happy birthday whenever I want. That's the last one, I promise." Jacob chuckled.

"Alright, Nessie. Happy birthday to you too, even though your birthday was three months ago." I giggled and nodded my head.

"How sweet of you to say, Jacob." We smiled at each other for a moment before we started kissing. Jacob stopped the kiss before it could get passionate, but he had us down from the building, in his car, and back home all within a half hour and we just picked up where we left off. It was a nice end to a really great year.


	29. Dear Carlisle

**Dear Carlisle**

It was finally summer, so that meant I got a two month break from school. School got out about a week ago, but I didn't get home until yesterday. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when I was in my dorm with all my things packed ready to go home and then got a call from Alice saying she was waiting for me to get downstairs so her, me, and Rosalie could go shopping on the Magnificent Mile. I was actually more surprised that she hadn't demanded we do that sooner. She used Carlisle's car with tinted windows, so we took a parking spot in one of the large garage parking lots near the Mile and stayed out of the sun at all costs only to be mere specks of light that were gone in an instant while trying to get into a store.

As soon as I was finally back home, Alice and Rosalie were kind enough to just let me and Jacob be alone. He'd been getting a lot of overtime at work in the past few weeks, so it'd been a while since he'd come to Northwestern to see me. It was nice to be able to have a few weeks together, especially with the summer vacation he would get to take soon. He showed me a new project that he and the pack were working on. It was a huge book with empty pages except for the first four pages with Leah and Hailey in different scenes, clothes, exc.

"What's the project that you need all these pictures of Leah and Hailey?" Jacob smiled.

"It was Seth's idea. He thought it would be nice to take pictures of Leah and Hailey together and collect a whole bunch over the years, or at least pictures involving major events, and put them together in a photo album and give it to them at their wedding twenty or so years from now. We'll leave room for them to add wedding pictures and a family photo."

"That's a wonderful idea. That's so sweet. I wish Seth had come up with something like that for us." Jacob shrugged.

"We could do that. We have plenty of pictures of us together and our wedding photos. And two or three years from now, we'll have our family photo." I smiled again.

"That's alright. We have our wedding album and that's all the photos we need. And I was thinking of hanging our family portrait in the living room above the fireplace when we have it. A little cliché I know, but I think it's a nice place to have a family photo."

"Me too. Or would you rather wait until we've had the three or four kids we agreed upon before having a family photo?" I giggled.

"No, let's not wait. We can always take another whenever we have another child. I know Alice would be overjoyed to take it for us. In fact, she'll probably demand that it include them and the Denalis too seeing as it's a family photo." Jacob chuckled.

"I wouldn't doubt it. But that means my dad and Charlie and Renee have to be in it too." I nodded.

"Of course. They need to be in that picture too. I'm sure Billy and Charlie could tolerate a suit for a few minutes."

"For you Nessie, my dad would tolerate wearing a dress." I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"No he wouldn't. Billy likes me, yes, but he doesn't like me that much."

"Yeah he does. He likes you more than me, and I'm his son."

"He does not like me more than you."

"You want I should ask him? I'll call him right now and he'll tell you." I crossed my arms and gave Jacob a challenging smile.

"Alright, fine. Call him on your phone right now. And put him on speaker." Jacob gave me a look of mock offense.

"Jeez, Nessie. Are you saying you don't trust me?" I fought a laugh and nodded.

"I'd sooner trust a talking log. Now call your dad and ask him how much more he loves you me more than you. I'm sure he'll tell you he loves you far more than me. Go ahead, Jacob, prove me right."

Jacob looked at me for a minute without doing anything. I think he was looking at me trying to determine whether or not I was serious. Then finally, with an eye roll and a sigh, he opened his phone and looked through his contacts until he found Billy. Then he called him, being sure to put him on speaker, and we listened to the phone ring together. Then Billy answered his phone and he was the first to talk.

"_You're wife's home, Jacob. Why are you calling?"_ Jacob looked at me as if to say 'I told you so'. But I waved my hand at him, telling him to ask the question. He sighed and shook his head a little.

"Well, I'm calling because I have a question for you."

"_Is it so important that it can't wait until tomorrow when I'll see you?"_ Jacob gave me the look again, and I gave him a similar look telling him to continue.

"Sorry dad. Nessie won't let me be until I ask, so I'd rather get this done now." I smacked Jacob's arm, trying very hard not to smile, and Jacob smiled and made a quick kissy face at me.

"_If it's involving Nessie, whatever your answer was is probably wrong. Is that all?"_ Jacob smirked and continued.

"I told Nessie that you like her more than me and she doesn't believe me." There was a moment of silence on the line before Billy finally spoke.

"_You're calling me in the middle of the night over that?"_ Jacob nodded.

"Yes, dad, that's the reason."

"_At the moment, I'm not too fond of either of you. But if it will ensure that you'll let me sleep, I don't love Nessie more than you. I do, however, like her more than you more often than not. Now don't ever call me at this hour again."_ When Billy hung up on us, Jacob started laughing and I was giving him a teasingly dirty look.

"I told you he likes you more than me." I rolled my eyes.

"We caught him at a bad time."

"He would have the same opinion no matter when we ask him." I didn't say anything in response. It was a silly thing to argue over, even if it was teasingly. Instead, I walked over to him and hugged him.

Jacob hugged me back and lifted me up into him arms and carried me upstairs. Everything beforehand became unimportant, and that's how I liked it. Right now, Jacob was at work, so I had some free time through the day. I'd called Aida and we were in Port Angeles walking around the shops and streets. We hadn't seen each other in forever, so I was really happy to see her. Even with her cynical, often grumpy, attitude, she was always a lot of fun to be around. Samantha was okay, but she was usually more interested in the dance group she was in at school, so we didn't talk as often as I thought we would.

Aida was really excited about the hedgehogs she'd just gotten herself whom she affectionately named Foamy and Gir. One, Foamy, was grey with little white tips at the end of his little spines and Gir was all over fan. They were both really adorable. I wasn't sure they were really the best pets seeing as they had sharp spines on their back, but they had faces that made you not care. I was carrying the food and other supplies while she carried the cage that held her new pets.

"So tell me, Nessie, how was your first year of college?" I shrugged.

"It was okay. It's college. Are you looking forward to going to Peninsula College?" Aida sighed in relief.

"You have no fucking idea. I'm already getting ready to move in with Zeppelin. And Coralline's covering for me, so that's one less thing to worry about."

"That's good to hear. As long as you stay in that area and we can still hand out, I'm cool with it." Aida laughed a little.

"I live to please you, Nessie." We shared another laugh together and kept walking through the streets. We were on our way to the studio where Zeppelin worked. "Hey, I need to get something here really quickly before we go to the studio."

I looked at Aida and watched her make her way to the front doors of Wal-Mart. I felt a chill go down my spine as the thought of the store made me instantly think of Alice. Alice always believed in buying the best quality she could get. I grew up with her telling me that Wal-Mart was a cheap store that took away jobs from Americans and made Chinese people do what we could do better, consequently making lesser quality things. If Alice heard me so much as teasingly think of going into this store, she would beat me with a toaster. I'm not even sure if that's a joke or not. Aida noticed my hesitation.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're one of those anti-Wal-Mart people."

"My Aunt it. If she found out I went into a Wal-Mart, she would kill me. I don't think it has anything to do with the practically slave equivalent work ethics this store has as far as China's concern as much as she just thinks this store sells nothing but cheap crap."

"I'm going in to buy a few lighters. A gas station sells lighters that are the exact same thing."

"It's not lighters I'm referring to. Lighters are lighters."

"Some lighters are better than others. Specialty lighters are the ones that are more expensive and they only sell them in specialty stores. All I need are some cheapo lighters that light my cigarette and I'm happy."

"Alright then. But this stays between us." Aida laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Rich people." I smiled at Aida and she smiled back teasingly. I followed her into the store and she went straight to the cashier to buy a lighter and a few packs of cigarettes.

"You know, Aida, you really should stop smoking." Aida rolled her eyes as she paid.

"Sure, Nessie. I'll quit smoking when it stops feeling so damn good. I love my Marlboros." I sighed.

"When you die of cancer, don't blame me."

"I never would." When Aida was finished paying for her things, we left the store and walked the rest of the way to Zeppelin's studio.

There was a new receptionist at the front desk. This was still a guy, but he looked bored. Aida walked over to him and asked him to let Zeppelin know she was here. The guy nodded his head and pressed the intercom button at his desk to speak to the people in the other room. We didn't wait long before Zeppelin came out and went straight to Aida.

"How's the day so far?" Zeppelin groaned as he hugged Aida.

"One of the models hasn't eaten in five days, so she's really irritable."

"So tell her to fuck off." Zeppelin smiled for an instant.

"If I could tell those models to fuck off, I would be so happy." Then Zeppelin finally looked at me and he seemed surprised. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

"Nessie."

"Right, right. How've you been?"

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Decent. That trip I took to New York last year really did me a lot of good. I'm starting to become well known."

"That's great to hear." Aida nodded.

"He was able to get the people in New York to let him stay here and still work for them. That's how much they liked his portfolio."

"That's great to hear. Congratulations." Zeppelin gave me a thankful nod.

"So Aida said you're studying business?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I am."

"That's pretty cool. Where are you going again?"

"Northwestern."

"Awesome." Aida then looked at Zeppelin.

"So when are you getting off work? I just bought myself hedgehogs and I need to drop him off at your house."

"I can see that. What are their names?"

"Foamy, the grey one, and Gir, the fan one." Zeppelin rolled his eyes. Normally I'd think he was doing so apathetically, but something told me he was doing it affectionately.

"Of course. You should've gotten a third one. We could've named that one Lucifer." Aida grinned at the thought. I wasn't sure whether or not they were serious.

"That's reserved for that black cat we're getting."

"Who said we were getting a cat?"

"I did." I smiled a little and so did Aida and Zeppelin. As close to smiles as either of them would ever allow. Even when Aida smiled at me, it was always apathetic or sort of void. It was kind of odd. She was a real character and a lot of fun, but she almost refused to let it show.

Once Aida finished what she wanted to with Zeppelin, she gave him a kiss and we walked to his apartment a couple blocks away from the studio. Aida already had a key, so she let herself in and we went to Zeppelin's apartment to drop off the hedgehogs. She pressed play on the stereo in the living room and heavy metal blasted through the speakers. I could hear myself, but only if I yelled.

"Don't your neighbors get mad about you blasting your music?!" Aida shrugged.

"Of course they do! But who cares?! So far, we made two families move out because they couldn't take the music anymore!"

"God, Aida, it's a miracle you two haven't been evicted!"

"What evicted?! Zeppelin's one of the few people in this building who owns his apartment!"

"How does that make a difference?!"

"We own the place, so the land lord doesn't have as much say as he does with the others who live here! And we pay a lot more in bills, so he kind of needs us here so he can pay the rent on the building!" I sighed.

"You never cease to amaze me, Aida!" Aida grinned.

"That's what I do, baby!"

For a good hour with the stereo on, I stayed with Aida at Zeppelin's place until he came back home. Aida drove me, so I waited with them until Jacob picked me up. When he got there, I said goodbye to Aida and we set up another time for us to hangout again sometime soon. When I got into the car, I reached over to Jacob and kissed him.

"How was work?"

"It was okay. How about you? How was your day with Aida?"

"Great. I went with her to buy hedgehogs and went into Wal-Mart for the first time with Aida so she could buy cigarettes and a lighter." Jacob laughed hard and took advantage of the red light to rest his head against the wheel as he laughed. "Why's that funny?"

"It's the way you said it. It's like you're comparing a store to the plague."

"It is as far as Alice is concerned."

"That's true I suppose. So Aida has hedgehogs now, huh?" I nodded.

"Yep. Foamy and Gir." Jacob laughed without humor.

"Original."

"Don't be mean, Jacob. It's better than naming it Sonic or something."

"In a small manner. Granted, foamy was really funny and Sonic was a hedgehog that liked saving woodland creatures, but Foamy was a squirrel, not a hedgehog. And Gir was a dump, delightful, robot."

"They aren't your hedgehogs, Jacob, they're hers." Jacob shrugged.

"True. If we ever got a pet, it would be a dog." I grinned.

"That would be great. Maybe a Pekinese or a Pomeranian." Jacob gave me a disgusted look.

"I said a dog, Nessie."

"Those are dogs." Jacob shook his head.

"No, Nessie, those are not dogs. Those are rats with excessive amounts of hair. My grandma has Pomeranians and I hate them with a passion. They think they rule the world and have no problem enforcing their power by biting anyone that isn't my grandma." I sighed.

"And when will I finally get to meet this grandma you speak of? I'm starting to think she doesn't exist."

"She does exist. I would just rather you didn't meet her. I hated her growing up and I'd rather not expose you to that."

"Whatever you say, Jacob. But doesn't she ever visit?" Jacob shrugged.

"Like I said, the last time I saw her, I was fourteen. I'm not even sure she knows I got married." My eyes widened.

"You didn't at least send her an invitation to the wedding?" Jacob looked at me a moment before answering.

"I don't remember if I did or not." I sighed again.

"Oh Jacob. Too late now, I suppose. I'll meet her when I meet her."

"Nessie, you don't want to meet her. We've been over her bitter racism. If she ever found out I married a white woman, she would skin me and hang me on her wall to make an example of me. Both of my grandparents hated white people. I've told you that."

"Yes, I know you've told me. It's just that whenever you tell me you don't want me to meet your grandma, it makes me feel like you're ashamed to let her meet me." Jacob sighed.

"I'm not ashamed for her to meet you. I'm ashamed for you to meet her. I could never be ashamed of you. It's my grandma that I'm ashamed of and for good reason."

"I know, Jacob, I know." We were both quiet a moment before Jacob ended the painful silence.

"I love you, Nessie." I smiled and looked at Jacob again. Without taking off my seatbelt, I scooted a little closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder with my arm on the section that separated our seats.

"I love you too, Jacob. I'm sorry to lecture you about that."

"It's alright. Just remember it's not you I'm ashamed of."

"My impression of her would never change how much I love you."

"I know it wouldn't. It doesn't change the fact that I don't want you to meet her. She'd make you feel unwelcomed into the family and I don't want that." I smiled and kissed his shoulder.

"If you say so, Jacob." Since Jacob was stopping at a red light, he bent his head to mine and kissed my forehead. I kissed him back really quickly, and Jacob brought his eyes back to the road when the light turned green again.

We drove to the family's house and daddy made dinner for Jacob while we all took the time to chat and catch up. I told them about Aida getting herself hedgehogs and daddy laughed a little to himself when the memory of going into Wal-Mart crossed my mind. When I looked at him, he just winked, letting me know he wouldn't say anything to Alice. When Jacob was done with dinner, we stayed and talked with everyone for a few more hours. I smiled when I saw Emmett in the backyard with Ryan shooting squirrels. As classy and well mannered as Emmett could be, deep down, he really was a little country boy and Ryan was well on his way to being the same as Emmett.

Around nine o'clock, Jacob and I finally left the family house to go home. Jacob didn't have patrol tonight, so I was eager to take advantage of the extra time together. Since we usually didn't get to see each other every day, it was easy to still feel like newlyweds. Once we were home, Jacob and I went straight upstairs to our room and I was in his arms within seconds and he had a silly grin on his lips.

"Don't you want to shower before bed, Nessie?" I grinned in return and shook my head.

"It can wait until morning." We laughed a little bit before he bent his head down and kissed me. When we were kissing, my hands went through his hair for a secure grip on him as I jumped into him, wrapping my legs around his waist.

Jacob caught me without a problem and his hands went straight to my butt, traveling around that area while walking slowly and aimlessly. When I was in the position I wanted to be in, I licked Jacob's bottom lip so he would open for me and our tongues met, making my head spin. Before long, Jacob's hands went under my shirt and kept trailing up my back until they reached my bra. He unhooked the snaps and started pulling that off along with my shirt.

I took my lips away from Jacob's only long enough for him to pull off my shirt and bra. I kissed him again as soon as I could reach him without interfering with the ridding of my clothes. I wrapped my arms back around his neck when I heard the clothes hit the floor. Jacob brought his hands around and played lovingly with my breasts. I bit his lip gently in response and we both groaned. I felt Jacob start to fall forward and his right hand went on the bed to stop the fall. When he was stable again, he quickly crawled all the way onto the bed and rested his weight on his elbows on either side of my face.

I rested my feet on the sheets with my thighs still cradling his hips and pushed my hips up against his tauntingly. We both moaned and Jacob started kissing my jaw down my neck until he was at the base of my neck. As Jacob was beginning to kiss further down, I heard something knock on the glass doors of our room. I looked towards it and screamed when I saw Brian standing there with an ashamed, dumbfounded look on his face. Jacob looked and yelled at Brian while covering me with his body until he grabbed a hold of the sheets and wrapped them around me. When I was covered, Jacob walked over to the doors and opened them.

"Damn it, Brian, next time, use the front door!"

"I did. I rang the bell twice and you two didn't answer. I knew you were home, so I came up here looking for you."

"What did you see?!" Brian looked confused.

"I'm sorry, Jacob?"

"Of Nessie, what did you see?!" Brian looked nervous and held up his hands defensively.

"Nothing, nothing at all! I promise!" After a moment, Jacob finally breathed and calmed down a little.

"What's going on?" Brian regained his composure and breathed.

"Three vampires came through the forests. We were about to attack them, but this one tall vampire tackled me and started hugging me." Jacob and I both looked at him strangely.

"A vampire you didn't know ran up to you and hugged you?" Brian nodded.

"Yeah. He was babbling in Spanish, so I don't know what he was talking about." When he said that, something clicked in my head.

"Did that vampire by chance have the mindset of a three year old and a friend named Diego?" Brian looked relieved.

"So you do know them? They said you knew them." I sighed.

"I'm sure I do. Did they say what they were doing here?" Brian shook his head.

"No. The mean one, Diego I think, said he needed to talk to your family and that what his business was, was no concern of me or the pack and then told me that I should go back to rolling in the mud." I sighed.

"Yeah, that's Professor Freferero."

"Well, where are they?"

"Outside. Like I said, they said they said they would only talk to Nessie." I sighed.

"Go open the door for them and tell them I'll be down in a moment please Brian?" He nodded.

"Yes, Mrs. Black."

"You're older than me, Brian. You don't need to call me Mrs. Black. Just call me Nessie." He smiled kindly and nodded his head.

"Sure thing Nessie."

"Thanks Brian." Brian looked at Jacob and apologized one last time before walking out of our room, closing the door behind him and went downstairs to let our guests in. "Don't be too mad at him, Jacob."

"I'm not. As long as he didn't see anything he wasn't supposed to, I'm alright."

"I'm sure all the pack members know what all the wives look like. You guys think about us enough."

"We all try to avoid thinking of our wives in such a manner whenever we're on patrol, Nessie." I giggled.

"If you say so Jacob. Go downstairs with Brian and keep them busy while I get dressed, okay. I'll be down in a moment." Jacob nodded his head and walked over to me so he could rest his forehead on mine.

"We'll finish this later." I smiled at his joke and we shared a quick, but still passionate kiss. Then I nudged Jacob, telling him to get downstairs like I asked. He kissed the tip of my nose one more time, then was out of the room and on his way downstairs.

Once Jacob left, I picked up my clothes and got dressed. I went over to the mirror and fixed my hair so it didn't look so messy. Just because they heard what me and Jacob were doing doesn't mean they should see it in my demeanor. When I was presentable, I went downstairs to join everyone else. My teachers and a woman I'd never seen before were sitting on our couch when I reached the living room. The woman smiled and waved at me. Professor Freferero merely acknowledged my presence and Professor Del Toro got up and ran over to hug me.

"Nessie, it's a delight to see you again!" I smiled, though was extremely uncomfortable.

"It's nice to see you too, Professor."

"Oh, silly Nessie, you're not in school right now. Call me Filipe."

"Um…sure, Filipe." Professor Del Toro grinned from ear to ear, then looked at Diego.

"I always said she was my favorite student." Professor Freferero stayed serious.

"Yes, you've told me many times. And as always, I don't care. We're here because I have something very important to discuss with Renesmee's coven leader." I looked at Professor Freferero confused.

"Carlisle? What do you want to talk to him about? Is something happening?" Professor Freferero shook his head.

"Nothing is happening, Mrs. Black. But I think it's best that I keep this matter strictly between me and Carlisle. If he chooses to let you all know what we spoke about, that's up to him. But for the time being, this isn't anyone's business but his and mine." I looked at Professor Del Toro then, hoping he would tell me what was going on.

"Sorry, Nessie, I don't know why we're here. He wouldn't tell me. If it were up to me, we'd all be in Argentina enjoying the skiing season by now." I smiled apologetically at him. Then I looked at the woman sitting next to Professor Freferero.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." She smiled kindly in response.

"Of course. I'm Diego's wife, Ofelia." This time, I looked at Professor Freferero surprised.

"I didn't know you had a mate. I thought you were……..you know…." He interrupted me with a muffled yell and a growl in his throat.

"Only my testicles were castrated, and frankly, that's not information that you should know." Ofelia patted his shoulder to get him to calm down, then looked at me again with a smile.

"He has what it takes to get the job done. Let's leave it at that."

"Ofelia." Professor Freferero's voice was pleading when he spoke. It was the first time I'd heard his voice be anything but stern.

"Lo siento, mi amor." Wanting to end the awkward silence between us, Professor Del Toro brought us to a different, less uncomfortable matter.

"Is Carlisle out hunting? The sooner Diego finishes his business here, the sooner I get to make other skiers eat my powder. And I Told Pat to meet me there, so I don't want to lose out on that piece of enjoyment."

"Who's Pat? You're mate?" Professor Del Toro laughed a moment.

"Mates nothing. I don't want a mate. I just want a lover. Pat feels the same way. We don't talk to each other unless we want some nasty time, then when we're done, we go about our lives like normal." I wasn't sure what bugged me more. The fact that he of all people had a lover, or the fact that he referred to sex as nasty time.

"Filipe, your personal life is of no interest to anyone. I've never met this Pat person before. I'm not even sure Pat exists."

"Of course Pat exists. You just never see Pat because whenever we meet, it's strictly sex, then we're off on our own again. It's been that way since 1985 when we met."

"I don't care about your love life, Filipe. And I told you to go to Argentina without me and Ofelia, but you're the one that insisted on joining us."

"Yeah, because I want to know what the big secret is, but you won't tell me."

"Because it's none of your business." I interrupted them before they could start arguing.

"Carlisle doesn't live here. This is mine and Jacob's place. The rest of the family live in a mansion five miles outside of Forks." Professor Freferero sighed.

"Praise the Lord he does. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate the smell of dog." Jacob and Brian gave him a dirty look, but otherwise said nothing. Professor Del Toro said something.

"But they're so cute and cuddly, Diego. How can you not love them? They're like giant puppies. I would love to have one of my own, but they're wild you see, so I can't." Professor Freferero looked at Del Toro a moment with a blank stare a moment before speaking.

"You're so God damn stupid, Filipe, it's painful." Then he and Ofelia stood from the couch and looked at me. "Seeing as Carlisle doesn't live here, I should leave. It's important."

"I'll take you guys there." Professor Freferero shook his head.

"Don't bother. We know where to look now. We'll find it. It's best you let me handle this fully before getting involved at all. Like I said, if Carlisle wants you to know what's going on, that's up to him. But I won't be the one to share personal information. I'm relying on you to keep Filipe entertained while I'm gone."

"Excuse me? He's a grown man, not a child." Professor Freferero looked at Jacob.

"You haven't been paying attention to the way he acts have you?"

"That's not what I'm talking about. We aren't babysitters. What are we supposed to do with him?" Professor Freferero shrugged.

"He's always said how much he wanted to play fetch with you?"

"No way! I'm not a fucking pet! I'll do that shit with Nessie because I love her. You, I don't know you, and I don't like you." Before the conversation could escalate any further, I stepped in between Jacob and Professor Freferero.

"Don't worry about a thing, Professor. We'll entertain Professor….I mean Filipe for a while, while you talk to Carlisle." I could almost feel Jacob staring wide eyed at me.

"Nessie, are you serious?" I held my hand up, telling Jacob to shut up. Professor Freferero spoke in his usual serious tone.

"I appreciate it, Renesmee." I nodded my head respectfully and Professor Freferero left me and Jacob and Brian alone with Ofelia and Professor Del Toro.

Jacob and Brian looked extremely uncomfortable. Del Toro looked like he seriously wanted Jacob and Brian to turn into their wolf selves so he could play fetch with them and scratch behind their ears. I stood next to Jacob for a moment awkwardly, not really sure what to say. The only board games Jacob and I had were the prank gifts Aida gave us and I don't even want to finish that thought. Eventually, I said the first thing that came to my mind that was an acceptable idea.

"So………..who likes Dots?"

**CPOV**

"You know what we should do, Carlisle?" I smiled and looked at Esme from my book. She was cleaning my office. It was a curse of having such excellent eyesight. Esme could see every dust mite that tarnished her freshly cleaned furniture. But at least the house was always clean.

"What should we do, Esme?" Esme smiled and was sitting on my lap in an instant. Esme and I were both extremely old fashioned, so our intimacy was strictly behind closed doors. Rarely more than a kiss was shared between us in front of others.

"We should go somewhere romantic. Maybe Paris." I laughed under my breath and shook my head.

"Oh Esme, you already know the answer to that. I hated Paris in 1748 when I was there, and I hate it now just as much as I did then. I would sooner drink human blood than go back to that dreadful city." Esme smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Why do the British all hate the French?"

"Because a Frenchman is more concerned with love affairs than they are with setting a good standard for himself. And I don't believe them for an instant when they say they're lovers, not fighters. That simply translates to, 'We're lazy and we don't want to take responsibility for things we start'. Need we go over WWII and Vietnam? And as far as I'm concerned, it's France's fault WWII occurred in the first place. They just couldn't listen to President Wilson and let the Germans be. And when push came to shove, they fled with their tails between their legs." Esme sighed.

"It's England's fault too. England wanted Germany to pay."

"Yes. But at least we stood and fought to protect our country."

"Yes. After many warnings to Hitler over his actions, never actually doing anything to prevent what that man was planning." I was silent a moment and she just smiled triumphantly.

"Regardless, Esme, I swore I would never set foot in France again, and I do not plan to go back on that. What's another country you would like to visit? Greece perhaps? It's lovely this time of year. Or Italy? Even Amsterdam would be better than Paris." Esme gave me a criticizing smile.

"You mean to tell me you would rather go to a city where marijuana and prostitution are legal than go to Paris?" I grinned and nodded.

"Indeed I would." Esme sighed, but didn't lose her smile.

"How about somewhere in South America. We could go to a beach at night, or maybe skiing. It is the winter season in South America right now." I smiled and nodded.

"That would be great. You decide where you want to go and I'll make the arrangements for us to go as soon as possible." Esme smiled and kissed me.

"I can't wait, Carlisle. I don't think we've ever gone skiing before."

"We've talked about doing it, but we never get around to it."

"That's true. So that's what we're doing." I smiled and we hugged each other tightly. "I love you, Carlisle."

"I love you too, Esme." Esme smiled lovingly and rested her forehead against mine, taking in my scent as I did to her in return. Her scent was the sweetest I'd ever smelled and I loved to savor it. It never bored me.

Then Esme kissed me sweetly and I kissed her in return. We held each other securely as we shared this moment. I deepened the kiss and she happily obliged. Her left hand came up to my cheek and gently brushed her nails on my skin. Then I heard the doorbell to the house ring. A mere second after that, I heard Emmett answer the door and be told by a man who's voice I didn't recognize that he had business he needed to settle with me. Esme heard it too and we ended the kiss.

"Do you know what that man is talking about?" I shook my head.

"No idea." By the time I finished that sentence, Emmett brought the man up the stairs to my office and Esme got out of my lap before Emmett opened the door to let the man in.

"Do you know who this man is Carlisle?" I shook my head. He was distinctly European. Spanish most certainly. His accent gave that much away. But I'd never met this man before.

"I'm afraid not." The man waved his hand dismissively.

"I understand. I wouldn't expect you to remember me. We met for a very brief amount of time and it was when you were a boy. I'm Diego Freferero. I owned the bar on Stamford Street a few blocks away from your old home."

I remembered Stamford Street, but that was about it. The church my father preached at was St. Joseph Protestant Church across the river on Victoria Street and the house I lived in with my father was just down the block from there right next to the river. A very unfortunate place to have a home considering it was such a filthy river. I didn't remember a bar being on Stamford Street. Though it wasn't surprising I wouldn't remember such a thing. I never set foot into a bar. Father always told me that a brilliant man is made a fool by alcohol, so I never drank. That much I remembered.

"Don't bother trying to remember, Carlisle. I ran a blood bar. That's what it was primarily." I looked at him a little stunned.

"How did you manage to run a blood bar with my father accusing heretics left and right?"

"Because your father wouldn't know a true heretic if it bit him on the ass. Not one of your father's victims were true heretics. They simply had questionable interests. Need I bring up your mother?" That statement didn't rub me the right way. I stood from my chair with a serious look and I got defensive.

"And what would you know about that?" The man looked at me a moment before he sighed.

"Carlisle, I knew Adelle. She used to come to my bar all the time, especially when she was pregnant with you. My bar was always quiet during the day. She liked going there to write in her diary and doodle. I'd known her since she was a child." That calmed me significantly. I wasn't sure what face I was making. My voice sounded so odd when I spoke.

"You knew my mother?" He nodded.

"In a passive way, yes. She would come in the bar for some peace and quiet and I would give her tea and listen to her the few times we actually spoke. Your mother knew I was a vampire, I'm certain. I can't imagine how she figured it out, but I'm certain she knew. She would hint to the knowledge whenever we spoke. But she never told anyone about it, so I felt indebted to her." I was silent a moment again.

"What is your name?"

"I'm Diego Freferero. I'm Renesmee's old history teacher. But when you were a child, I was Senior Freferero, the man that owned The Anochecer Pub on Stamford Street. I serviced humans as well as other vampires, so I wasn't nearly as suspicious."

"I see. And what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?" Before answering, Diego reached behind his back and pulled a large red book from under his jacket. It looked extremely old and I could smell the faint remnants of old London town on it. I would remember that stench of home until one day I met my end.

"This was your mothers. She left it at my bar mere hours before she had you. At first, I thought she left it at my bar by accident, but when I read through it, it was pretty clear that she knew what she was doing. I think she suspected your father was up to something, so she left the book with me for safe keeping." I was a little angered that he'd read that, but I left that to myself.

"What's in it?" Diego shrugged.

"Letters to you. When she found out she was pregnant, she started writing little letters to you. Even when she just found out, she always knew you were a boy. She told me that Midwives and doctors assured her that you were a girl, but she knew better. And she always called you Carlisle. Never the baby, or it, but Carlisle. She used to say that she wanted to make sure you always had a piece of her with you, even when she passed away." I felt myself start to get chocked up, though I held my composure as best I could.

"Why did you wait so long to give this to me?" He sighed and offered his response.

"I couldn't give it to you when you were a boy. I knew your father would get a hold of it and burn it the way he burned everything else. He even burned the quilt she'd worked so hard on for you. He burned most of your mother's diaries save one little notebook that he kept in the attic. I can't imagine why he kept that, but he did. I wanted to wait until you were grown. I was planning to give it to you after your father died. But you were being so careful and tactical about finding heretics that you were becoming as irrational as your father."

"I never killed a person that I didn't believe was truly evil." He laughed lightly at that. I frowned and Esme held my arm to help me be less angry. "You disagree?"

"There was one woman in particular that you executed, Miss Elizabeth Truman. She was one of those women who simply had odd taste in hobbies and a poor choice of cat preference. She was no witch. She was an old woman that enjoyed drawing eyes and petting her old black cat, Pepper."

I vaguely remembered her, but I knew who he was talking about. I was sure I'd been right about her being a witch, at least at the time. Her lifestyle was suspicious and questionable, she had an affinity for black cats, her home often smelled odd, and she had millions of jars with different colored things. I had been so certain.

"There are a few others, but who they are isn't important. I will admit that you were far more rational than your father, but your accusations were more often than not unjust all the same. I was surprised to hear that you'd found where some older vampires were staying in those sewers. I'll have you know, they were good friends of mine. They often came into my shop and I would throw little parties for them whenever they had a 'birthday'."

"That doesn't answer why you're giving me this so long after you received it." He shrugged almost indifferently and that aggravated me more.

"When you became a vampire, you disappeared. I couldn't find you and none of the other vampires knew or cared were you were. As far as they were concerned, you got what you deserved, and frankly, I don't disagree with them. You spent your life helping your father wrongly kill heretics and tried desperately to end the lives of so many vampires in London. And after such a lifestyle, you became the very thing you hunted so passionately. It's ironic really.

"I heard about the incident with the Volturi, but it sounded so absurd, that I didn't believe it. Then when I met Renesmee and heard she was in your coven, I knew I finally found you and had an opportunity to give you what's rightly yours."

With that said, Diego walked over to my desk and rested the old red book in front of me. There was a hint of something else that was unique. It wasn't the scent of Diego or London or any other country that was imprinted on it. It was distinctly human with a flowery remnant. Marigold.

"It still smells like her." Diego smiled faintly.

"You caught that. I kept it in a place that would keep it smelling the way it did when it was left to me. It only seemed right."

I was staring at the book he put on my desk. I brought it a little closer to me so that it was right in front of me, but I didn't open it. I wanted to read this alone.

"I don't know how I could possibly thank you for this." Diego shook his head.

"There's no need. After what Adelle did for me, it's the least I can do. She knew exactly what I was and what I did and she never condemned me for it. She treated me like another human, and I appreciated that. I can't imagine what life was like for you not knowing her. I just hope this in some small way gives you a sense of closure." I nodded my head.

"It will." Diego smiled a little.

"I'm glad to hear it. Now I must take my leave. My mate get's homesick if we don't go to Argentina at least once a year and I'm afraid we've already missed one flight to South America. Take care, Carlisle."

"You too, Senior Freferero."

Diego smiled one more time at me, then he turned to leave. When I heard the door to the house close, Esme walked over to me and took a gentle hold of my arm. I looked at her when I felt her touch. She looked stunned when I turned to face her. I must look like a mess to her right now.

"Esme?"

"Yes, Carlisle?"

"Could I have some time alone please?" Esme looked worried, but she nodded her head and kissed my cheek before letting go of me.

"Of course, dear." Esme never took her eyes off me as she walked out of my office. When she stepped out and closed the door behind her, I sat in my chair and looked at the book in front of me.

I'd never known my mother. Those few times I asked father about her, he refused to talk about her. When I found that one notebook in the attic, that helped add some sense into the reason behind father's distain for my mother. After a while, I gave up asking father about her and just pictured what I always thought she would be like. I had her portrait in my mind, so I built what I thought of her from there.

I opened the cover and the first page was covered in little drawings of toys with my name neatly written in a little banner held by birds. I'd only seen mother's notebook that I'd found in the attic. This was the first time I'd ever seen mother's doodles look so elaborate and childlike. The page was covered with toy nutcrackers, barrel rings, and even dolls, making the page look whimsical and fun. When I'd looked at that page for a good five minutes, I turned the page and saw an entry. The handwriting was as elaborate as the pictures she drew.

_May 10__th__, 1642_

_ I just found out about you not long ago, honey. The doctor told me I'd had you for about four weeks now. It's so exciting for me! He told me to expect you around late December or early January. I knew that all I needed was that little ray of sunshine to make life grand again._

_ Sine I found out about you, I've been picturing what you would be like. The doctor says it's too soon to tell, but I already know you're a boy. I can feel it in my heart, my darling son. I've already decided to name you Carlisle. That was my father's name. I wish you could meet him. You would adore him as much as I did. I picture you looking just like my father, with bright blonde hair, a handsome face, and that sunny disposition he always had. Your grandfather was a doctor, you know. Father always used to say, 'The human body is full of weaknesses. But only the cowardly ones let those weaknesses get the best of them'._

_ I also picture you having my mother's lovely blue eyes. Those eyes I swear made jewelry envy her, just like the night sky wished it had her beautiful dark hair and a rose wished it could mimic her red lips. Her name was Felicity, by the way. Family tells me I look just like my mother, but I disagree. I'm an ugly duckling by comparison. She died too soon. I lost her when I was only ten. It broke my heart to lose her. It hurt even more when I lost my father to illness. I married your father shortly after he died. Pastor Cullen took pity on me and took me to be his wife. He said he'd always thought he should get himself a wife. It had always been hard for him to find a suitable wife, what with his ministry and such._

_ We were married three months ago on the week of my sixteenth birthday. It was a simple ceremony. Nothing too over the top or extravagant. I wore my mother's wedding dress and a close friend of your father's performed the ceremony which was kept between close family and friends of the congregation. Since that day, I've waited for you to come, and now you're on your way. I only wish you could be born now._

_May 17__th__, 1642_

_ I got to see the doctor again today. He noticed that I'm beginning to show a little. It's very subtle and no one would ever see it while I was fully dressed. But I know you're there and that's enough to put a spring in my step. The doctor says it won't be long before I'll start feeling you kick. I'm so giddy with excitement at the thought. _

_ I've started making a quilt for you. It'll have blue and yellow fabric cut in triangles that will form squares and on every other square will be an embroidered toy soldier. I hope you will love it. It will keep you warm at night when you sleep those few times I won't be holding you. It will certainly give me an excuse to not go to your father's horrid trials he holds for accused heretics. I don't enjoy those in the least._

_ Your father was so angry when he found out how much I spent on the fabric for your quilt. 'It's just a baby. It doesn't care what it's sleeping in', he said. I know that's not true. I know you would love something far more if it was me who made it for you. _

_ Your father is already looking for a nanny for you. I wish he wouldn't bother. He already has his eyes on a woman with a heavy French accent. Jeanne I believe her name was. He says it would be good for you to have a nanny that would immerse you in the French language so it will be easier for you to learn. I fear we would be wasting our money keeping her around. I would never trust her with you._

_June 12__th__, 1642_

_ I finished the quilt I told you about, Carlisle. When I started it, I became so engrossed that it became a chore to stop, even for food and sleep. All that is left is to buy a crib for you to sleep in. Your father thinks it is too soon to buy such things, but I don't think so. I think buying the necessities will make the wait for you seem shorter and make your due date feel closer._

_ We've already picked a place for your room to be, Carlisle. It will be the spare bedroom next to our room. Your father said it was nice to finally have a use for that room. He'd had that old house for over twenty years and he never knew what to do with it. We will have to move all the silly things in that room into the attic, but it will be an effort well worth it._

_ Your father hired the French nanny I told you about earlier. I was wrong. Her name isn't Jeanne, it's Daniela. He gave her a room that was right next to the kitchen for her to stay in. She was to be up promptly at five a.m. every day and was to prepare everyone's breakfast and once you come along, she is to see to your needs in the morning as well. I still insist that won't be necessary. I'm your mother, so I will be the one to take care of you._

_June 15__th__, 1642_

_ I finally convinced your father to start decorating your room. I wish I could paint it myself, but he insisted that I not exert myself, even with something so restful as painting. I wish he would agree to paint your room any other color besides white. The whole house is white. It would be nice to give your room a little more color. A baby needs their stimulations, I say. But of course he insisted on the room being white. I will have to compensate by giving you colorful furniture. I will be taking Daniela with me tomorrow to buy furniture for you. Though I don't truly think her services are necessary, I won't condemn her. She may be very young, but she is a kind woman and a good friend at the least._

_ No one else notices quite yet, but you are growing. Every day, I notice the bump that is you grow bigger and bigger. I've already started wearing maternity dresses. I could never understand why some women insist on continuing to wear a corset, even when they know they are with child. Any blind man would know a corset is bad for a baby. Your father's sister teases that with all the care I put into my pregnancy, you will be born a demigod. I doubt it would be quite to that extent, though I do hope my being so careful will assure you are born healthy and strong._

_July 24__th__, 1642_

_ I felt you kick for the first time today, Carlisle. It was such an odd feeling, but it was wonderful nonetheless. I told your Aunt about it and she spent five minutes with her hand on my belly waiting for you to kick again. You didn't kick again until she finally took her hands away from me and I put my hands in their place. I won't lie, it gave me an odd sense of satisfaction that you wouldn't kick for her. I would never tell her that, of course. She considers me a stupid woman as it is. No need to worsen her already poor opinion of me, am I right, honey?_

_ The doctors and midwives tell me that in two or three months, they will be able to make a guess of what gender you are based on the way I'm carrying. I tell them not to bother since I already know you're a boy. But the doctor tells me that I shouldn't get my hopes up. 'Many women say they know what the baby is, then when they get the baby, they are disappointed that it isn't what they expected'. That won't be an issue I know. A proudly expecting mother always knows. Your aunt insists that your father and I have a girl name prepared. But your father wants you to be a boy so badly, that getting him to come up with one he liked was like trying to teach a cat how to sing a Canon._

_ He finally said he would approve of you being named Jane. In truth, I think the name is far too common and would never agree to name you something so plain and ordinary. But since I know you will be my Carlisle, I said nothing against it._

_August 4__th__, 1642_

_ People are starting to notice how pregnant I am. Isn't that exciting? People in the church walk up to me all the time asking if they may touch my belly and wait for you to kick. I don't think you like it very much. When they try to feel you kick, you simply refuse to do it, but you start up again whenever I want to feel you kick. It makes me feel so proud to know you like me the most. _

I read each entry several times as I went through the book. The way she spoke of me, I desperately wished I could know her. I didn't remember ever having a blue and yellow blanket with toy soldiers on it, though Diego plainly told me that father burned it. I had a hard time believing that father would leave one of mother's notebooks unburned. I wondered if he didn't know it was there. Maybe mother had left it there by accident and forgot about it. Father never went up in the attic, so it's no surprise that he wouldn't find it.

When I got to her entries from later in her pregnancy, I noticed she seemed to become worrisome. She started talking about how father would look at her strangely and he didn't want her near anyone. She told me a lot of her things began to go missing and she would smell things burning late at night only for father to tell her he was riding of garbage. Considering how often her was burning things, it seemed suspicious. But when I got to her final entry, I felt sick reading it. As young as my mother was, she was far from ignorant or stupid.

_January 10__th__, 1643_

_ The doctor it saying it won't be long before you're born. Late January as he predicted. I found it strange to see your father's reaction to the news. Normally when we saw the doctor, he took little interest in the process and would simply pay the man when he was done with the examination. But the past two appointments, he seemed eager for you to be born. Not in a way that told me he was happy, but in a way that concerned me deeply. It was like he wanted the process to be over with so he could move on to something else._

_ He seems more distant than ever. I won't lie, we were never close to begin with. But now it's worse than ever. He won't talk to me and he looks at me strangely, as if I did something wrong. I avoid being home as much as possible now. I feel uncomfortable at home now. He's the only one acting strangely however. No one else has been treating me differently and when we're in front of other people, he acts loving and affectionate, something he never did before._

_ He's hiding something from me and I can't figure out what it is exactly. The only certain thing is that it's nothing pleasant. I've toyed with the idea of leaving your father. I'm scared of him, and I don't want you growing up seeing me tremble in fear of him. I have family in Scotland, so I think we would be safe there. I think the hills and misty waters would be a perfect place to raise you._

_ I have an Uncle William that would love nothing more than to take you fishing off the coast and teach you how to clean a fish and help you find a wife to cook it for you. He always tells people that's how he proposed to my aunt. They had known each other and had been lovers for some time, so one day, he came home with a fish and said, 'If you can cook a perfect fish, I will ask for your hand in marriage'. I don't know how true that story is, but it's certainly a fund story to tell the children around a fire. And Aunt Mary makes the best Sheppard's Pie in the whole world. I don't know what she does to that lamb to make it so good. She, of course, refuses to give anyone the recipe._

_ I can already picture it now. I can see you running around my uncle's farm playing with the sheep and their dogs. I can see my aunt telling you to be a good boy and not to roam around at night or the Banshees will come and get you. I can picture you sitting next to me in church shifting your weight impatiently waiting for mass to be over so you can go out and play some more. I can see Uncle William making you tend to the sheep and cattle by giving them water and cleaning up after them so he doesn't have to. He used to do that to me all the time._

_ I don't think I should travel until after you're born. There's nothing worse than being in labor on the side of the road with no one around to help. I have a letter ready to send to them, letting them know I'm coming. I'll send it on my way home. I have to go all the way to Belford road, but it will be worth the trip. I'll just hum to you while I make the walk there. You seem to like it whenever I sing to you. You start kicking a little more, like you're trying to dance to the music. It's the cutest thing ever. When you're finally born, I'll sing you to sleep and we can dance together while I do it. I'm sure the rocking motion would make you very sleepy._

_ I can promise you one thing for certain, Carlisle. You will always have someone around that will love you to pieces. You'll have so much love, you won't know what to do with it. That's my promise to you, Carlisle. I may not be able to make your childhood free of any flaws, but what I can do is make it as wonderful as I possibly can. I love you, Carlisle. And when you're in my arms at last, I'll tell you so every day how much I love you._

_ My, I just felt a horrible pain just now. I've been feeling contractions for several days now, but never anything that the doctor considered true labor. I take it you like the idea of going to Scotland. That's why you're so eager to come out. I'm in agreement. The sooner the better, my dear Carlisle._

That was the last entry in the book. With all the entries from her nine months of pregnancy, it filled up most of the book. The first time through, I read it in a minute. Then I reread it a few times, taking up five minutes all together. I felt like I couldn't breathe while I was reading the book. Thankfully, I don't need to. I actually felt myself get sick. I'd been right about her death all along. Before, I had that small glimpse of hope that I was wrong. But reading this proved how she died beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I'd wanted so badly to be wrong about my father. That's why I never told anyone about it, save Esme and this coven. No one else I'd ever known knew that I'd suspected this. It would've been my word against my father's anyway. But now, looking back on what little of my life I really remembered, I felt ashamed of myself for looking up to my father after what he'd obviously done.

I heard Esme come into my office, but didn't look up from the book at her. I heard and smelled her come closer, but I never said anything or tried to stop her. Eventually, she was holding me tightly and I let myself fall against her, never realizing until now how much I needed her at this moment.

"Don't blame yourself Carlisle."

"How can I not, Esme? Even when I suspected what father had done, I never questioned him or went against him. Even after my mother loved me so much more." Tears wanted to come, but they wouldn't. All I could feel was the burn in my eyes while I held Esme tightly as she did for me.

"You didn't know, Carlisle. You had no way of knowing. You shouldn't beat yourself up over something that wasn't your fault."

"But I supported the man who was at fault." Esme shook her head.

"You were a good son. That doesn't make you at fault, Carlisle." I shook my head again.

"I never even visited her grave, Esme."

Esme was silent a moment, but never loosened her grip on me, as I never did. Instead, she rested her head on mine and sat on my lap like she always did and petted my hair to comfort me as my eyes kept burning. Eventually, Esme kissed the top of my head, then brought her hand under my chin, making me look at her. She had a small smile on her face that always made me feel a lot better.

"I suppose we're going to London to visit your mother then. Do you remember where your mother was buried?" I nodded my head.

"The Bunhill Fields Cemetery in London."

"Then that's where we're going. I'll make the arrangements now."


	30. Return

**Return**

The day after Jacob and I were visited by Professor Freferero and his coven, Carlisle and Esme were off on the next plain to London without a word to anyone. It turns out that Carlisle and Esme were going to London to visit his mother's grave. Emmett explained to me the conversation he and Professor Freferero had and I felt an ache in my heart for Carlisle when I knew what happened. I couldn't imagine how much he must be hurting after reading his mother's letters.

Carlisle and Esme ended up staying in London all summer. I didn't get to see them before I left for Northwestern again, but they did call and wish me good luck. Carlisle also asked me to thank Professor Freferero again for what he did and that he hoped Professor Freferero would be a long time friend of the family. I assured him that I would before he and Esme said their goodbyes and hung up the phone so they could get back to whatever other things they were doing in London.

The night before I was leaving, I stayed with Jacob so we could have some time alone together. I was making him some dinner. Steak and a baked potato with homemade macaroni. It was his favorite. Rebecca was even nice enough to give me a copy of their mother's recipe for it. I didn't tell Jacob I was doing it the first time, but when he tasted it, he immediately knew what it was. He looked at me like he'd fallen in love with me all over again.

As I was cooking the steak, Jacob came up behind me and grabbed a hold of me, kissing my neck while he did so. I smiled and let him continue while I kept part of my attention on his food. Jacob wasn't going to be able to drive me back tomorrow, so I was perfectly happy letting him do anything he wanted while we had the time. After he kissed my neck a few times, he rested his chin on my shoulder and I tilted my head so our cheeks met, keeping my eyes on the steak.

"Only one more year." I nodded.

"Just one more and I'll graduate and be home for good." Jacob grinned and kissed my neck again.

"I'm ashamed to admit that I've been close to beginning you to drop out and come home a few times." I nodded.

"I've been close to actually doing it. If you didn't come visit me every week, I'd lose my mind." Jacob nodded.

"I wish I could come there every single week. I know I wasn't able to the last few weeks of the last semester." I shook my head.

"It's alright. I know why. Did Craig find a replacement for the two guys that quit?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah he did. They're both in high school, but they seem to know what they're doing."

"Are they both at least sixteen?"

"One of them is. The other one just turned eighteen, so it's his last year of high school. With them around, I can get more time off since we're not undermanned anymore."

"That's good to hear. Let's hope no one else quits. Why did those other guys quit, by the way?" Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe the same reason I plan to when you graduate."

"They want to open their own repair shop?" Jacob chuckled and kissed my neck.

"That's one of my reasons. The other is because it's not really the best place to work. Craig is too lenient and he lets people get away with a little too much. It's like he doesn't care anymore, and that's not fun to be around when you're at work."

"I see. I always thought he was nice."

"That's because the few times he ever met you, he was on his best behavior."

"That's worth something at least." While we were talking, I finished his steak so it was medium rare just how he liked it. I put it on the plate that was next to the stove and got the baked potato and took the macaroni and cheese out of the oven and plated it for him.

Jacob took it when I handed it to him and we walked over to the dining room together and I sat next to him while he ate. We held hands while he ate and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"When you'll be home to make dinner again, I will be so happy." I smiled.

"I know you will. Emily said you're getting better at cooking though."

"Just because I'm getting better doesn't mean I like it." I giggled and shook my head gently.

"Why do you hate cooking so much, Jacob?"

"I just do. I've never liked cooking, and I never will."

"What did you do before you had me?"

"When I was younger, my sisters cooked for the most part. Then when they went off to college, we mooched off the Clearwaters whenever they made fish fry."

"And what does Billy do now?"

"Same thing he's always done. He mooches off of Mrs. Clearwater. And since Harry died, she's eager for the companionship." I gave Jacob a weird look.

"You don't think they'll get married or something do you?" Jacob looked at me with the same expression I was giving him and shook his head.

"No, not in a million years. They're not good enough for each other. Even when Billy tried to date, he always compared them to my mom and they didn't measure up. Mrs. Clearwater's the same way. She would compare dad to Harry, he wouldn't measure up, so they would never get together." I sighed.

"Okay, good. Them getting married feel really strange."

"Please. Try seeing it from my point of view. I've already got two sisters. I don't want another one. And Seth would be my stepbrother, and that would feel strange. We're already related." I giggled.

"Alright, good."

"Let's never mention this conversation in front of Billy or Sue. They'll think we're sick people." I giggled.

"My lips are sealed. I won't say anything if you don't."

"Believe me, I'll never tell them. I'm glad I don't have patrol tonight. I can forget about this before I have to go on patrol with Seth."

"I'm sure Seth would think it's a funny thought."

"No, he wouldn't. It takes a lot to bring that kid out of a good mood, but that would put him in a disturbed mood in an instant. Neither of us would consider our parents good for each other. They're friends, that's about it."

"Alright, I get it. Never tell Seth or Leah."

"Especially not Leah. I don't want to hear the list of reasons she doesn't want me to be her brother." I giggled.

"She wouldn't do that. Not now, at least. Hailey's put her in such a good place. Nothing makes her sad or mad anymore. I mean, she used to always look away whenever she saw Sam and Emily together and her relationship with Emily was really sour, even if she was the maid of honor at the wedding. Now that she has Hailey, their relationship's is back to the way it was and they're best friends again." Jacob smiled.

"Why do you think Bella and I can still be friends and I managed to be friends with you? Imprinting is a powerful thing." I smiled.

"I like to pretend you and mother were never more than friends."

"We never were."

"Exactly." Jacob chuckled and kissed my forehead and went back to eating his dinner, sure to change the subject.

"Are you staying in the same Dormitory?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I am. I made sure I didn't have to move far. I'm on the first floor this time, so all you have to do is knock on the window and I'll let you in."

"Do you know who your new roommate is?" I nodded.

"Her name is Kelly. I've seen her around campus and she was in a few of my classes last semester. She seems nice."

"Is she a party animal like Samantha was?" I shook my head.

"Not at all. I've seen her at one of the parties Samantha took me to and she stayed in a corner most of the time. I think she's really shy is all."

"That must make it difficult."

"I'm sure it does. I've seen her get so nervous that she gets sick."

"That's not good."

"I'm hoping that she'll be comfortable with me after a few weeks of living together. I think I should approach this the way I would if I were handling a cat. I'll just keep out of her way and she'll come to me when and if she trusts me."

"You should at least try to talk to her."

"I will. I'll just have to keep it short and try not to freak her out. When someone's got an anxiety like she does, you have to walk lightly." Jacob sighed and dropped his fork on his plate.

"Does this mean she doesn't have many friends on campus?" I shrugged.

"I've never seen her talk to anyone specifically. Why do you ask?"

"Why else would I ask?" I sighed.

"We'll figure something out when the time comes. But let me get to know my roommate."

"Would she even be okay with me being there?" I shrugged.

"I won't know until I ask. If worse comes to worse, we can book a hotel for the weekends." Jacob groaned.

"Better than nothing, I suppose." I kissed Jacob's cheek.

"I'll take care of it Jacob. Let's just have some fun before I have to go tomorrow." Jacob grinned and nodded. Then he bent his head and kissed me really quickly.

"I'll get the dishes in the dishwasher, then we can go upstairs." I smiled.

"Who says we need to go upstairs?" Jacob grinned back at me and didn't even bother with the dishes.

Jacob stood from his seat and grabbed me into his arms so I was being held almost a foot off the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed passionately, tongue immediately introduced. I ran my tongue around his teeth and roof of his mouth and his did the same thing, happily meeting our tongues together.

Jacob's hands traveled to my butt, then ran along my thighs, pulling my legs up so they wrapped around his hips. I crossed my ankles so I could hold on tightly and used my leg muscles so I could bring my face closer to his and we were eye to eye. I bit Jacob's bottom lip and sucked gently as he did to my top lip while I ran my fingers through his hair.

Jacob's hands were under my shirt and traveled straight to my bra to unhook it. Once my bra was unhooked, he brought his hands straight to my breasts and forced my bra out of his way so he could touch my bare breasts. I took my arms from his neck so I could pull my shirt and bra over my head, separating from him only to get them off, then brought my lips to his again as soon as my clothes were over my head.

When Jacob pinched my nipples between his fingers, I bit his lip a little harder than I had before. It made him groan and lick my lips. I started pulling on his shirt, wanting for it to be off so I could feel his chest. Jacob grinned from ear to ear at my efforts to get his shirt off him and was kind enough to help me out and pull it over his head. My hands went to his chest and I started kissing Jacob's neck affectionately.

I felt Jacob start walking again, but didn't take my face from his neck to look where he was going. I didn't really care where we went in truth. I assumed Jacob would walk us up to our room or over to the couch in the next room, so I was surprised when I felt my back come against the wall and Jacob rested a great deal of his weight against me. I moaned into his neck and was then forced away from him when Jacob lifted me higher up so his mouth was on my breast.

I dug my fingers into his hair and moaned his name as he kissed and bite and licked my nipple tenderly and with hunger. My legs were now wrapped around his waist and I tightened my grip, forcing his body closer to mine. Jacob rested his left hand on my thigh while his other hand held my breast as he did everything that made me lightheaded. Without taking his hand off my breast, he turned his attention to my other breast, giving it the same loving treatment.

When he bit my nipple, my hands went to his back and I started digging my nails into his skin relentlessly. I smelled a little blood, but Jacob never mumbled a word of complaint. He just groaned and continued what he was doing. When he was done with my left breast, Jacob brought his lips between my breasts and kissed affectionately. Then he moved his hands to my back so he had a better grip of me and he started walking again.

I opened my eyes slightly to see where he was planning to go, but my vision was fuzzy from my eyes being half closed. I closed my eyes again when Jacob's mouth planted a kiss on my neck and sucked on my skin, running his teeth over the spot greedily. Jacob finally settled on a spot to put me and rested me on the granite countertops of the kitchen. Once I was settled there, Jacob turned his full attention back to me. He kept kissing my neck in assorted places. I made a mental note to remember to wear a sleeveless turtle neck tomorrow. I hated sleeveless turtle necks, but I had them for this exact reason.

Jacob started undoing my pants while his mouth stayed on my neck and my hands came around from his back to his chest and scratched his skin affectionately. His muscles were hard and warm. It made my hands feel hotter than they already were. It was like my skin was burning. It felt like his skin was burning too. Once my pants were undone, he grabbed a hold of them and my panties and pulled them down to my knees so I could pull them off the rest of the way with my feet.

When they were off, his kisses traveled down, sure to leave similar marks as the ones on my neck as he went down. He paid close attention to my breasts when he got there again and I rested my cheek against the top of his head and brought my hands to his head to hold him tightly. As he sucked and bit the side of my breast, I moaned his name only loud enough for him to hear. My voice was much higher than usual and I was taking in the smell of his hair as if I needed it to live.

He spent several minutes sucking my breasts and I clutched his head with my fingers entwined in his hair the whole time. When he was done there, he started kissing down my midriff and left the same marks. When he got to my thighs, he took his time there, sucking on my skin and rubbing his fingers over the spot where I needed him most. I moaned his name again and again, trying to get him to come closer to me. Then, finally, he did and I fell back. My head and shoulders were off the counter, but I really didn't care.

I felt Jacob grin and he laughed a little under his breath with his forefinger and middle finger moving inside me. Jacob's tongue was hot on my nub and my head was spinning. I was digging my nails into his head, but he didn't complain. On the contrary, I think he liked it. After a few tender licks, he bit down gently and sucked on my nub. I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head and I whined in pleasure, but it came out more as a squeak.

"That's it, Nessie. Tell me how it feels." I groaned.

"You know how it makes me feel, Jacob." Jacob chuckled and bit down gently again.

"It's still nice to hear it, baby." I giggled and brushed my fingers through his hair a few times.

"Earn it, then, Jacob."

Jacob didn't say anything. Instead, he grinned against my nub and accepted my challenge. He sucked on my nub even harder and forced a third finger inside me, and pushed them as far as they would go. I breathed in sharply and moaned afterwards, which I know gave Jacob a boost in his ego. I was all too happy to give it to him. As Jacob kept going, I didn't hold back any whimper or moan so I could please him.

As he pleasured me, I felt myself coming closer and closer to the edge. I felt the tightness in my stomach and the ache in my womb that told me I wouldn't last much longer. I let Jacob know what he was doing to me by squeezing his biceps tightly and whimpering his name affectionately, my voice thick with pleasure. He made me rise higher and higher so that I felt like was forced out of my own body. Then it finally happened. My body snapped and the tension was forcefully released and I went limp, moaning his name all the while.

Jacob kept licking until I was completely spent. Then he started kissing my thighs again, leaving new marks near the ones from before. He kept his fingers inside me, helping me ride out my orgasm and making it last a little longer. He removed his fingers when the last of the contractions were done and started kissing his way back up my body. He sucked the skin of my ribcage, making me giggle and reflexively trying to push him away to stop. Jacob just grinned and kept doing it.

"Jacob, that tickles." I said through my light giggling.

"I know, Nessie. I just love tormenting you. Besides, listening to you giggle makes me hard."

"I laugh a lot, Jacob. How do you ever get through the day?" Jacob chuckled and kissed the side of my breast.

"I try to hold it in until we get home, baby." I giggled again.

"You're such a pervert, Jacob."

"Only for you, Nessie." Then Jacob kissed my breast a few more times before he kissed his way over my collarbone, up my neck, over my jaw, and to my lips.

When our lips met, our tongues met shortly after and they dueled passionately. But he was still wearing his pants, and that annoyed me a bit. I reached my hands down and tried to undo his pants, but all I could seem to accomplish was the button and a little bit of the zipper, and that certainly wasn't going to get me anywhere. Jacob smiled against my lips and one of his hands went between us to undo his pants the rest of the way for me.

When his pants were finally undone, I pushed them down with my toes and did the same thing with his boxers. Once those were both off, Jacob pulled me back into his arms and lifted me up so we were face to face for a moment. Then he loosened his grip enough so I would be in the right position for him to enter me. Once he was, he loosened his grip a little more so I could fall the rest of the way on him so he was fully inside me. Once he was, he started a rhythm, moving me with his hands under my thighs.

Then Jacob started a pace and it was initially faster and it made my eyes roll into the back of my head. I let Jacob do all the work and rested my head on his shoulder moaning his name. Jacob kept moving me the way he wanted and bit and sucked on my ear while he did it. Wanting to do something for him, I put my mouth on his neck and sucked and bit as hard as I could. He'd given me several marks and I wanted to give him at least one.

Sucking his neck only made him move faster and I had to force myself to stay on his neck and keep sucking his skin. His skin muffled all the sounds that came from my mouth and Jacob groaned as he moved unashamedly with my name pouring from his lips with a few profanities mixed in. Jacob wasn't one to swear often, but when he did, it was usually during sex and it seemed to make the moment more pleasurable. It made it seem like I was doing that much better at pleasing him. After a moment, Jacob slowed his movements and I looked up at him confused.

"What's the matter, Jacob?" He shook his head reassuringly.

"Nothing. I need to put you down somewhere. I don't know how much longer I can do this standing." I giggled and kissed his neck.

"Alright. But don't stop moving, even if you're only moving a little. I'm getting close, Jacob." Jacob chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

"I know baby. So am I."

Keeping to his word, Jacob kept his movements going, though they were relatively slow, while looking for a place to lay me down. Since it was the most logical spot, Jacob brought us to the couch and rested me on the cushions once he found them. Once I was rested on the couch and he was on top of me, he picked up the speed to what it'd been before and he kissed me passionately while he moved and I moaned into his mouth.

I dug my nails into his back with my legs tightly wrapped around his waist while his hands were on my hips holding me tight enough to cause a bruise, though it will only last a few minutes. Those hands held me securely in place while he moved so I wouldn't hit my head against anything. It made each hump last a little longer and the penetration seem deeper. Jacob took his lips away so he could suck on my neck, then I was able to breathe again. I hadn't even realized I'd stopped. When I took in that needed breath, it was shaky and came with a small whine somewhere in there.

I felt Jacob bite my neck and I sighed contentedly at the feel and dug my nails even further into his skin, earning a groan from him. I felt him smile against my neck and I couldn't help but smile with him. Then Jacob brought his mouth to my breasts again and I felt him start pulling me in his arms again. I thought he was changing location again, but he only sat against the couch with me straddling him. The movement forced his face to be right in front of mine and he kissed me.

Jacob's hands were still on my hips, so he dictated my movements for a moment as we kissed. Once I had the pattern in mind, I started moving on my own like I knew he wanted me to and his arms wound around my back to hold me close. I think he was trying to make sure our faces stayed close so he could kiss me a little longer. It made the action of moving a little harder, but I didn't mind. After a bit, Jacob loosened his grip around my back and brought his hands to my chest and massaging me there lovingly, never taking his lips away from mine.

With the new freedom, I increased my movements a bit, holding onto Jacob's face so I could keep kissing him through the whole thing. Jacob started moving with me too, though his movements stayed subtle so as not to interfere with my own. But as subtle as they were, it made the moment that much more pleasurable. After several minutes of this, I was beginning to come undone. I wouldn't last much longer, that much was certain. I could tell he wasn't likely to last much longer either.

I said his name in a breathy moan and he already knew what I wanted to say. I figured Jacob would just increase his movements and take over all together to bring us to the end. Instead, Jacob stood up again and pulled me away from him. I was looking at him a little confused, but waited to see what he was doing before questioning him. When we were separated, Jacob placed me on the couch, then gently moved me around to the way he wanted. I wasn't sure what he was doing for a moment until he hand me on my hands and knees.

Once he had me where he wanted me, he entered me again and it felt wonderful. He didn't get moving right away, though. First, he grabbed a hold of my left arm and gently pulled me up so I was just on my knees with my left arm around his neck. Then he took my right hand in his and rested them over my stomach. Then Jacob brought his face next to mine, and that's when he continued moving. He wasted no time in going slow. He picked up the pace right where he'd left off and I held my breath a few moments from pleasure.

In the moments before I came, I lost all sense of reality and everything seemed to melt away. The tension in my body was unbearable and I longed for the snapping sensation to finally come. As I moaned and whined for him, Jacob brought his left hand between my legs and started tickling my nub, bringing me painfully closer to the end that I desperately needed. Once Jacob did that for another minute or so, I couldn't take anymore and finally came. Just beforehand, Jacob took in a sharp breath and bit onto my neck, sucking greedily and I came.

As I was reaching into the sky, Jacob sped up even more, trying to reach his own end. Doing that made me stay in my high a lot longer and I almost cried from how hard the snap I felt in my body had been. It was only made better when Jacob finally came and he became still in my arms for a moment. We were breathing heavily as we came down from our high together.

I wasn't sure how long we stayed like that trying to recover. But eventually, Jacob pulled out of me and I fell down on the couch and caught myself with my hands. Then Jacob started moving me again until I was on my back on the couch. Once that was done, Jacob bent down over me and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and followed his lead, not yet having the strength to do much else. I felt on of Jacob's arms go under me and grab a hold of my back while the other did the same under my knees. Then he lifted me up and carried me upstairs.

When we were upstairs, Jacob took us to the bathroom and into the shower together, knowing I wouldn't have time tomorrow to take a shower. Once in the shower, he turned the water on as high as it would go and grabbed my body wash and poured some in his hands and started scrubbing me with the wash. I smiled and took his soap, doing the same.

"Remind me what time Edward's picking you up tomorrow."

"Nine. He wants me back in my dorm and ready to sleep as soon as we get there. Daddy's already a little annoyed that I waited until two days before class started to start getting back to Chicago."

"Why? You probably won't need any more than a day to adjust back." I nodded.

"I know. But he would've liked me to give myself a little more time to get to know my new roommate and all that." Jacob grinned.

"I'm sure you two will get along fine. And if worse comes to worse, avoid each other as much as possible and tolerate each other for the mere hour or so it takes to fall asleep." I giggled and shook my head.

"That's not a good way to look at things. I would hate for us not to get along."

"It'll be fine, Nessie. It'll only be as bad as you make it, right?" I smiled and nodded.

"Exactly. I know you can't go with me, but call me when you get home from work. I'm pretty sure I'll be back in my dorm by then." Jacob nodded.

"Of course." Then Jacob bent down and kissed me sweetly. "By the unlikely chance your roommate isn't there while I'm calling, do you think we could talk about what we usually do?" I smiled and fought a laugh. Jacob hated calling it phone sex, and frankly, so did I. I nodded my head when I knew I wouldn't laugh.

"Of course we could. I'll even find a private corner somewhere if I have to." Jacob chuckled and I giggled with him.

"Don't inconvenience yourself for it. I can wait if I have to." I smiled a little more.

"That's why I love you." Jacob grinned.

"I love you too."

We smiled at each other a moment, then Jacob bent his head down again and kissed me. We didn't keep the kiss simple this time. He forced his tongue between my lips and I opened for him happily. We didn't stop even to get air. I breathed through my nose, and that's all the more I needed. We held onto each other tightly despite both of us being covered in soap and Jacob lifted me up, keeping a good hold on me, and placed me against the shower wall. We were out of the torrent of water now, but I still felt hot thanks to the heat of his body.

When Jacob entered me again after several minutes of kissing, that combined with the steam from the shower made it feel out of body. While thrusting, he brought us back under the water and let it wash away the rest of the soap as we made love. We stayed there long after we were clean. Near the end, Jacob rested us against the wall and kept going until we were both spent once again. Then, without pulling out of me or letting me go, he walked out of the shower and outside the bathroom to our bedroom, then to our bed. Once there, Jacob rested me on the sheets, still naked, and he took the spot next to me.

Neither of us bothered to get on any clothes. I wanted to stay this way for a while and so did he. Once on the bed, Jacob pulled the covers over us and we held each other as we fell asleep. I rested my head against his chest so I could hear his heartbeat lullaby and smell his woodsy scent that I've known all my life.

I woke up the next morning to the feel of the bed moving. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob get out of bed and watched him walk over to the closet to get dressed. I avoided sighing or groaning. I looked at the clock and saw seven thirty in bright red. I had an hour and a half before momma and daddy would get her to take me back to Chicago. I waited until Jacob walked out of the closet dressed for work before pushing myself into a sitting position. I let the blanket fall. He'd seen every part of me he could, so there was no point in hiding myself from him. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Morning, Nessie."

"You have to leave already?" Jacob's smile became guilty.

"I'm sorry. I tried calling Craig asking if I could be an hour late, but he wants me in when shop opens."

"I understand. Are you leaving right now?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. I'm already pushing it on time. I'll probably be late anyway." I sighed.

"Aren't you going to at least eat something before you leave?"

"I'll grab something from the fridge and eat it on the way there. I'm really sorry I couldn't stay longer." I shook my head.

"It's alright, Jacob. The last thing we need is you getting in trouble at work." Jacob's smile came back and he walked over to me, got on the bed, and held me in his arms. I found it infuriating that my bare skin was being pushed away from his by his t-shirt and jeans.

"I'll call you as soon as I get home, I promise."

"I know you will, Jacob. I love you."

"I love you too. I miss you already." I grinned and kissed his nose.

"I know you do. I miss you too." Jacob smiled a little and leaned over to kiss me. We kept the kiss simple, though I licked his bottom lip just to tease him, and we pulled away from each other after a few mere moments and looked at each other lovingly.

"I'll see you this weekend, baby."

"I'll see you then. Now get going or you'll be even more late." Jacob grinned and kissed my forehead before walking away from me and out our room. I stayed in bed and listened to him walk down the stairs and out to the garage and start up his car. When he was gone, I tried falling back asleep, but it didn't work as well as I would've liked.

At best, I managed to doze off in bed, but it was good enough since I didn't have much time for it. My things were already packed and ready or me at the door when it was time to leave and I had a shower last night and I didn't need to eat anything. Jacob took me hunting last night, so I was good for a while.

Later, I heard the front door open, and groaned when I saw the time. It was already nine. Even though I heard them, I stayed in bed. They let me while they were getting my things in the Volvo, but that didn't take long anyway. Nor did it take long for daddy to reach my room and start petting my head.

"Honey, it's time to get out of bed. We need to get going." I groaned. "I know you're tired, Nessie, but we need to go." I sighed.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." Daddy smiled and went to the closet to grab some clothes.

"I wish you'd worn pajamas, honey."

"I'm sorry, daddy. I didn't feel like getting up to get dressed." Daddy chuckled.

"I know. Your mother and I will wait for you downstairs while you get dressed. I laid something out for you, so don't take too long." I nodded absently.

"Alright, daddy." I felt daddy pat my back through the covers, then heard him leave the room to go downstairs to wait for me.

I forced myself out of bed and looked at the clothes daddy picked for me. It was a pair of pants and a heavy sweater and a pair of socks on the grey undershirt. I went back to my closet and got some panties and a bra on before getting the clothes on that daddy set out for me. I got dressed as fast as I could and more or less jogged downstairs and put on some tennis shoes really quickly before going outside where momma and daddy were waiting for me in the Volvo. As soon as I was in the car, daddy drove off and we made our way to the expressway to go to Illinois.

"Are you alright, Nessie? You seem sad." I looked at momma and shook my head.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired is all."

"Alright, honey. Do you remember where your new dorm is?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I remember. It's the same building, I'm just on the first floor this time instead of the second. And I managed to get a room with a window, so that's good." Momma smiled.

"Do even need Jacob to sneak in?" I shrugged.

"Not over the weekends, but Jacob usually comes on a Friday, so he's not supposed to be there yet. We never really obeyed the rules anyway." Daddy sighed.

"You're lucky you two never got in trouble for it."

"I know. Samantha never said anything because she was hardly at our dorm to begin with. Whether or not my new roommate will be the same or not is what I'm worried about." Momma turned to face me.

"Haven't you two emailed each other or anything?" I shook my head.

"I tried, but she never responded to my e-mails. I found out she's a big facebook user, but I didn't see the point in having a facebook when I'm rarely on the computer to begin with." Daddy laughed at looked at momma.

"Do you remember when everyone had a facebook, Bella?" Momma nodded.

"Even I had one." Daddy looked surprised.

"You have a facebook account?" Momma nodded.

"Renee had one and she convinced me to get one. That's how we stayed in touch when I moved here." Daddy looked a little surprised.

"I never knew that. And here I thought I wasn't the only person of your generation that didn't have one. Even people from my generation have one." Momma giggled.

"I don't suppose you could look up old friends could you?"

"I doubt it, Bella. The people I worked with when I was human are either dead, or senile. They wouldn't remember me even if I walked up to them and said hi."

"Probably not." Then momma laughed a little.

"What's so funny, love?"

"The other day, Rosalie told me that Emmett was considering visiting his family in Tennessee." Daddy laughed a little.

"Oh yeah, I heard them thinking about it. Rosalie thinks he's an idiot for it and Emmett wants to visit his youngest brother that's still alive."

"Will they really do it?" Daddy shook his head.

"Not if Carlisle has anything to say about it. That's what Rosalie's counting on. She told him to wait to go through with this until Carlisle and Esme get back."

"Emmett agreed?"

"Begrudgingly yes." Momma smiled in humor.

"What was he even expecting to do when he met his brother? His youngest brother's at least ninety by now."

"According to what Emmett's looked into, the man's still healthy as a horse."

"I have a hard time believing that if he's human and ninety. Especially if it's true that he was in Korea and Vietnam."

"He was only in Korea. But I see your point. War does horrible things to people." I asked my question in my head, but dad didn't answer right away, his way of telling me to ask out loud.

"How old was he when he fought in Korea?"

"Emmett said that he was the second oldest of his brothers and the youngest brother was about ten years younger than him. So that means his little brother was born in 1925 and would've been 25."

"Which means he just turned ninety." Daddy nodded.

"Exactly, Nessie." I giggled and daddy only smirked a little at my thought.

"So that means Emmett is a hundred this year." Daddy nodded.

"Yep."

"I thought he was older." Finally being in on the joke, momma laughed a little.

"Never say that to Emmett's face, honey. He'd kill you." I grinned.

"No he wouldn't. He loves me too much."

We all shared a laugh at my statement, and daddy changed the subject once we were done laughing. I tried staying awake for most of the car ride, but after four hours of driving, I started dozing off. Daddy let me get a little more sleep and changed the subject so he and momma could just talk amongst themselves. I didn't wake up until I felt momma nudge me, telling me we were parked in front of my dorm. I looked outside and saw the sun going down and groaned.

"What time is it?" Momma smiled.

"It's almost nine, honey." I sighed.

"I'll help get my stuff upstairs." Momma shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. We already got everything in your room. Thanks for having your I.D. on your suitcase. It spared us the chore of having to look for it." I smiled and laughed a little.

"Glad to have made things easier on you. Are you staying for a while?" Momma shook her head.

"I'm afraid not." I groaned.

"Awesome. So is my roommate there?" Momma nodded.

"Yeah, she's there. She hardly acknowledged us when we were coming in and out of there. I asked your father if she was def or something, but she's not. He said she's really shy and doesn't like talking to new people. You've got some work cut out for you getting along with her." I shrugged.

"It's okay. I'm sure we'll get along fine. And, hell, if worse comes to worse, we can just stay out of each other's business and we'll get along fine." Momma gave me a look.

"Language, Nessie." I smiled.

"Sorry, momma." Momma smiled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not even sure who to blame anymore."

"Why Emmett, momma. He's the one that taught me every swear I know."

"Maybe, but you don't hang around him nearly as much as you do with Jacob and his friends and family. I'm starting to wonder if they aren't the culprits." I gave momma a weird look.

"Oh come one, momma." Momma smiled teasingly. She moved so I could get off my seat belt and slide out of the car where daddy was also waiting for me. When I was out, daddy walked over and gave me a hug.

"I miss you already sweat heart." I hugged daddy back and momma held onto me too.

"I miss you too, daddy, momma."

"Get through this year and you'll finally be home again for good." I nodded.

"I will, momma." When we finally let go of each other, daddy handed me my phone with a small smile.

"Jacob called while you were asleep. I told him you'd call him back as soon as we got here."

"But he has patrol tonight." Daddy nodded.

"He said he'd wait for you to call. You'll have to keep it short, but he wanted to hear from you before he went out for the night."

"Alright. I'll call him as soon as I get to my room."

"You do that. Be sure to call us every now and then too, just to see how we're doing." I nodded.

"Sure thing, momma."

After we finished saying our goodbyes and they walked me to my room, I went inside and saw a girl sitting on the bed to the right of the room. She didn't look up to acknowledge me when I came in. I saw IPod headphones in her ear, so I wasn't surprised. Since she had in her headphones, I sat on my new bed and looked through my contact list until I found Jacob's number and called. He answered the phone after two rings.

"_It's about time you called me."_ I giggled.

"I'm sorry, Jacob. I thought we'd be here sooner. The pack isn't mad that I'm keeping you from patrol are they?"

"_They'll live. Edward told me you slept through most of the trip."_

"Yeah, I did. After four hours of sitting in the Volvo with nothing to do, I couldn't stay awake anymore. How was work?"

"_Decent. I took a nap during my lunch break, so that was nice."_ I smiled.

"That's something you'd do. Did you at least eat something?"

"_Don't worry, I ate. Rosalie was kind enough to put a nice steak in a dog bowl for me."_ I giggled.

"Did she really?"

"_Yeah, she did. And when I asked for some salt and pepper, she made Valerie stand on the table and hold them up in the air and make me sit up for them." _I laughed a little harder.

"Oh yeah? How'd that work out?"

"_I just stood up and grabbed them from her. She was really disappointed that I didn't do it and I got yelled at by Emmett for displeasing his dear Peaches."_ I laughed again.

"I'm sure he did." Jacob was silent a moment and when he spoke, he sounded a little sad.

"_I'm sorry, baby, but I need to let you go. I have to get out on patrol."_

"I know. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"_Alright, Nessie. I'll talk to you tomorrow. I love you."_

"I love you too." I hung up my phone and glanced to my right and saw my roommate looking at me. I smiled and waved. "Hi."

"Hey."

"Your name's Kelly?" She nodded.

"Yeah. You're Renesmee?" I nodded.

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you, Kelly."

"It's nice to meet you too, Renesmee."

"You can call me Nessie." She gave me a weird look and I felt it coming before she even said it.

"Your parents nicknamed you after a mystical monster?" I shook my head.

"No. I'm named after both of my grandmothers. My middle name is Carlie after my grandpas."

"I see." Then she looked at the book she'd been reading and there was an awkward silence between us again. Eventually, the silence bothered me. I didn't always listen to Samantha whenever she was talking, but at least it was never too quiet. This was way too quiet.

"So….what's your major?" She didn't look up from her book.

"Bio-Chemistry." I smiled.

"That's cool. My dad wanted me to major in that. I decided to major in business though."

"Cool." There was another awkward silence.

"So when did you get here?"

"Yesterday."

"Cool. Do you live nearby?"

"I'm from Bon Terre, Missouri."

"I've never heard of it."

"Not surprising. It's a small town."

"How small?"

"5,000 people." I smiled.

"I'm from Forks, Washington. Population 3,120 people." She finally smiled.

"And I thought I had it bad." We laughed a little more together. "Does everyone always know what you're doing?" I shook my head.

"Actually no. My family lives outside of town and don't converse with them much. I went to school, but I wasn't close friends with many people there except my friend Aida."

"That's cool. I could never get away with anything back home. I could belch in public and everyone would know about it within twenty minutes. And all that with a populous that mostly don't have cell phones." I giggled.

"How do you accomplish it without cell phones?"

"Walk outside and shout it across the street. The town plays telephone from there. One person knows I just belched another person thinks I table danced at Wendy's." I grinned.

"That's pretty extreme."

"That's why I never want to live in Missouri again. I've lived in the city and it's nice." I smiled.

"I know what you mean. I'd rather live in the city, but my husband doesn't like it." She looked surprised.

"You're married?" I nodded.

"Yeah. We got married last summer. We just celebrated our first wedding anniversary."

"That sounds nice. What did you guys do?"

"He took me to the movies that he knew would suck so we could make out the whole time. Then we went to first beach near the reservation where we live and we spent a few hours at the shore line where he told me he loved me. Then we went to a ledge at first beach where we had our first date. And finally, we went back home and spent the night together." She grinned.

"Is it safe to assume that you guys had sex through most of the date?" I blushed and nodded.

"We didn't have sex at the movie theatre."

"What stopped you?"

"Common decency." She giggled.

"How courteous of you both." We shared a small laugh.

"We try."

"So is this your second year?" I nodded.

"Yeah, it is. I graduate next semester too. I was able to test out of my gen ed classes."

"How lucky. I suck at math, so I had to start at a low level. Everything else is great. It's my math that's holding me at a bit of a standstill. I'm here all year round because I'm taking summer and winter classes to catch up."

"They offer winter classes?" She nodded.

"It's for people that really need to catch up on something or they want to get their degree as quickly as possible. It's a pretty new thing."

"How can you learn anything in just a month and a half at best?"

"Honestly, in all the classes I've taken, you don't really learn anything. You memorize stuff for the test and you get the credit."

"That's an awful way to do things."

"It is, but it gets the University extra money. And they like themselves extra money." I smiled and nodded.

"That's what I've heard. So what are you reading?" she held up the book so I could see the cover.

"To Kill A Mockingbird."

"I remember that book. It was so sad." She nodded.

"It is at the end. The rest of the book is funny though." I nodded.

"I love the part where Scout and her brother and another boy see a guy urinating off his porch and the boys had a competition of who could aim the farthest." She burst into laughter and I laughed a little with her. When she had control of her laughter, she quoted a part of the book.

"'I sat out from this activity because I was untalented in this area.'" I laughed a little harder. "Oh tomboy Scout. I loved it when she punched her cousin for calling her dad a Nigger Lover. He totally had that coming. I'm mad they didn't have that in the movie."

"That's a shame. That's one of the best parts."

"I know, right?"

"Have you ever read Night?" She shuddered.

"Most depressing read ever. I cried when I read that book."

"I know what you mean. It's hard to read because it's so sickening."

"And yet you can't put it down until the end."

"Exactly. That's the best parts."

"I know, right?"

"Have you ever read Night?" She shuddered.

"Most depressing read ever. I cried when I read that book."

"I know what you mean. It's hard to read because it's so sickening."

"And yet you can't put it down until the end."

"Exactly."

"What's your favorite book?" I thought about it a moment and shrugged.

"If I had to choose, I'd say Angels and Demons."

"I love that book."

"Me too. I was scared I wouldn't like it since the first eighty chapters were so dry, but once I got to the part where the Cardinals were being killed, it got really good."

"And those murders were really clever. At least the wind one was clever in my opinion."

"Yeah, it was."

I hadn't expected it, but Kelly and I ended up clicking in a way I didn't think we would. I thought it would be days before she ever said a word to me and yet here we were talking about our favorite books, movies, and in her case, PS2 and 3 video games. I asked her about the shyness I heard so much about. She just shrugged and said that I didn't make her feel nearly as uncomfortable as most people did. She really hated people, so it was hard for her to get used to people and actually want to talk to them.

By the end of the night, she and I were good friends and I knew we would get along great for the rest of the year. She helped me unpack and I showed her my wedding album when she found it. I showed her the glasses and all the lovely wedding gifts we got that I'd brought with me. I smiled proudly when she saw a picture of Jacob and his friends together and smiled, saying how lucky I was to have such a handsome man.

"He really is handsome."

"How long were you two dating before you got married?"

"Three years. But we knew each other all my life."

"Is he older than you?" I nodded.

"How much older?" I was about to say roughly eighteen, but I caught myself. I immediately thought of a more appropriate age difference.

"Um, five years." She looked surprised.

"Wow. So you were dating when you were sixteen and he was twenty one?" I just smiled.

"Pretty much."

"Your parents were okay with that?" I shrugged.

"I won't pretend that daddy was completely okay with it, but he always said that he would rather I end up with Jacob than any other deadbeat I had as an option in Forks. And frankly, I agree." Kelly smiled.

"I say good choice. So are you two planning to have kids eventually?" I smiled and nodded at the thought.

"Yes, eventually. We're waiting for me to graduate and such. We weren't even planning to get married until after I graduated college, but Jacob decided he didn't want to wait that long and I didn't want to wait either, so we got married the summer before I came here."

"That's so sweet. But isn't it hard on you both being so far away from each other?" I laughed without humor.

"You can't even imagine. Which brings up something I should really talk to you about." She shrugged.

"Okay. What's on your mind?"

"Well, Jacob and I don't like this arrangement, but it's slightly more bearable because we try to visit each other every weekend. He comes here and he usually spent the night at my dorm. My old roommate would spend the night with her boyfriend or a friend so Jacob and I could be alone." She lost a bit of the smile.

"I wish I could leave, but I don't have anywhere else to stay but the dorm. I don't have many people I would consider friends. The ones I do are all at the junior college in Farmington near Bon Terre or not going to college at all." I sighed.

"I know, and I feel awful for bringing it up. I'll talk to Jacob tomorrow and we'll work something else out."

'I'm really sorry about that. I don't mind if he hangs around during the day. I could always go to the café and library and read with a mocha cappuccino or something. But as far as night's concerned, I don't have anywhere else to go." I smiled.

"It's alright. Jacob and I can just spend the day together and we won't do anything when you're here."

"Glad we could agree. On the weekends, I'll go to the library and stay out of your guy's hair and won't come home until nine. Agreed?" I nodded.

"Agreed. And hey, at least you'll get plenty of studying done?" She nodded.

"There's a silver lining in everything." I nodded back.

"Exactly."

"Is he coming this weekend?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Unless he gets backed up at work or something, it's a pretty safe bet that he's coming over."

"Where does he work?"

"He works at a car repair shop in Seattle. It's a long drive away, but it was the only repair shop he could find that would hire him. The only car experience he'd had before that was his car remodeling hobby." Kelly laughed.

"That's a pretty expensive hobby."

"It can be. But Jacob's a bit of a junkyard rat. He'll spend hours looking through a dumb site looking for usable car parts that he'll clean up. You know that blue coupe convertible that's outside?"

"Yeah."

"Jacob built that for me."

"Get out. He did?" I nodded.

"Yep, he made that. He gave to me as a birthday present. I did something like that for him for his nineteenth birthday too. I found this Volkswagen Rabbit in a junk yard and I knew he would love remodeling it, so I brought it over to his house."

"That's a cool gift. You should've given him a boat for your anniversary and let him remodel that." I laughed and nodded.

"I'll remember that for next year. He might actually like that. I would give him a motorcycle to remodel for me if daddy would let me drive one. Jacob and my momma like to ride motorcycles together, and I have to admit, I've always been jealous of them for that." Kelly looked a little confused.

"How old is your mom if you don't mind my asking?" Once again, I was about to say twenty five, but that wouldn't make sense to Kelly. Momma had me when she was nineteen (technically) so I did the math in my head and answered with a smile.

"Thirty eight."

"Wow. How did she and Jacob get to be good friends?" Once again, I gave her a bullshit answer.

"She's close friends with his parents and she sort of took care of him like he was a little brother. My mom and dad didn't think they would have kids, so Jacob sort of compensated for that. Then I came along." I wasn't completely lying. Momma and daddy never thought they'd have me, and Jacob and momma were like siblings, but that was where the truth ended.

"Well, that's cool. Why did your parents think they'd never have a baby?"

"My…dad thought he couldn't get momma pregnant. Some medical disorder. I never asked them to elaborate."

"Who were those people that helped drop off your stuff by the way? The red head and the brunette. My god, they were perfect." I smiled.

"Those were my parents." She looked wide eyed.

"Are you serious? They're so young."

"I promise they're both thirty eight." A bold faced lie, but she didn't know that. "They just look really young for their age. Momma insists that she and daddy use these creams to make sure they don't get wrinkles and as you can see, they work wonders."

"Wow. What creams do they use that they still look like teenagers?"

"Olay, because they're worth it." She laughed a little.

"Do they use Loriele too?" I giggled.

"I don't think so. But whatever they use, it does them good."

"My mother would love to know the secret. I just can't believe two forty year olds look like teenagers." I shook my head at her.

"They're thirty eight, Kelly." She caught the teasing tone in my voice and we laughed a little more.

"Have your parents been thirty eight long or are they proud of their age? My mom's been forty nine for three years now." I giggled.

"My parents don't really care. They're happy with each other and that's all they really care about. I think they would love each other if my daddy was a platypus and momma was a bridge troll."

"How nice to love each other so much. My parents used to be all over each other when I was younger. But once they'd been married for twelve years, they started getting distant. They could be married over the phone now."

"Are they happy?"

"I know they're happy. They just don't really care about sex anymore. I don't know what caused it, but for whatever reason, they just don't."

"That's a shame I guess. But as long as it works for them, why complain?"

"Yeah."

About an hour later, Kelly and I finally decided to go to sleep after spending so much time talking and getting to know each other. I was so relieved that the arrangement wouldn't be nearly as awkward as I thought it would. We both slept in the next morning and I finally woke up a 1:45 in the afternoon. I almost laughed at myself for how late I'd slept in. I hadn't slept in this late in years. When I was out of bed, I heard Kelly groan from not wanting to wake up. So I left her alone and took some things to the girl's dorm bathroom so I could take a shower. Because of how late it was, the bathroom was empty of anyone trying to take a shower. I was happy to have the place all to myself.

Sadly, I had to switch showers about four times because the temperature of the water was freezing. I hated it when the hot water got used up. It did almost every day with all the people in Elder House trying to take a shower all at once. When I finally found a good shower, I turned it to the hottest setting and got cleaned as fast as I could. The water wouldn't last very long I knew.

As I predicted, the water started getting cold when I was half way through washing my hair. When I felt the temperature change, I cleaned out the soap as fast as I could and got out of the water. Once my face was washed and teeth brushed, I dried off my hair with the towel and put on an oversized shirt that I'd stolen from Jacob a few years ago and walked back to my room. When I got back, Kelly was dressed and on the computer. I glanced at the screen and saw the university homepage.

"What are you doing?"

"For some reason, my math class got dropped. Some misunderstanding with my last teacher or something. But I got it fixed and now I'm trying to get back into the math class I wanted to take."

"You can do that so soon before school starts?" She nodded.

"Yeah, you can. You don't have a prayer of getting the time you want, but even a god awful early class is better than none at all."

"That's true I suppose."

"It depends on how you look at it, honestly. I've taken all the math I can tolerate, but I still need to take Statistics for my bachelor's degree."

"Statistics? Aren't you a second year?" She looked at me oddly.

"No. I'm a third year."

"Oh. I thought you were younger."

"Well, thank you for saying, you made my day." I smiled.

"Glad to do so."

For the rest of the day, Kelly and I stayed in our dorm talking with a few of my other friends coming in and out to say hi. Whenever one of my friends came over, Kelly would get a book out and read, hardly acknowledging our visitors. I think my friends thought it was weird, but I didn't really care. I knew she was nice and that's all that matters.

The next day, I had to wake up early to go to my first class. I was taking an early morning Philosophy class. I wasn't too crazy about taking it, but it was a much better option than other classes I could take. The guy teaching the class reminded me so much of Demetri Martin that it was hard to take him seriously when he was talking about the essay by Plato about Socrates talking to Euthyphro about what piety was. I would admit, I'd never thought about a word's true mean so much in my life.

An hour after Philosophy, I had an accounting class, then business was my last class of the day. Tomorrow, I would have to take my economy class, Spanish, and English. I was sure to get a class where Professor Freferero was my teacher. As much of a jerk as he was, he was a really good teacher. People just didn't like him because he was a bit of a hard ass and not a lot of people appreciated that. And Professor Del Toro encouraged me to come visit him at his office any time I wanted. I didn't really want to question why he liked me so much. Why question a good thing?

While I was in my last class for the day, I got a text from Jacob. I glanced at the teacher before answering it. The last thing I wanted to deal with was being yelled at on the first day of classes. I waited until she had her back turned to face the blackboard and write something, then looked at the message when I had the chance.

_So what's the verdict?_ I wasn't sure what he was talking about. I looked up to check if my teacher was looking. She wasn't looking in my direction, but she was facing the class. I brought my purse off the floor and placed it on the desk so I could hide the fact that I was texting. This usually worked as long as I worked quickly.

_What verdict? What are you talking about?_ When I pressed send, I immediately turned my attention back to my teacher. My phone was on low vibrate, but I held it so it wouldn't make any noticeable noise. With my luck, this woman had ears like a bat. I heard it vibrate, but no one else seemed to notice it. I waited again for a good moment to check my phone.

_The verdict about this weekend. Will your roommate be able to let us have the place to ourselves or will we have to go to a hotel or something?_ I glanced up first, then turned back to my phone to answer.

_Oh, that. She doesn't have anywhere else to stay for the night, but she did say that she would let us have the place to ourselves for the day. She said she would stay in the library and study or something and would stay away until nine at night. Does that sound okay?_

Still holding the phone in my hand, I looked back up to pay attention to my teacher. She was talking about the rise and falls that could occur in the economy and what caused them in recent years. Luckily, the teacher was facing the board again when I got a text back.

_So we can do whatever during the day, but once she gets back, we can only share a bed?_

_Yeah, pretty much._

_Okay, I don't mind. As long as we can have that even if only for a few hours, I'll take that over nothing._ Thankfully, class was done, so I waited until I had all my things together before answering. When I was outside my next class that started in half an hour, I wrote back.

_That's good to hear. Does that mean I'll see you this Friday?_

_Damn straight. I'll be there as early as I can get there._ I smiled and had that on my face the whole time I wrote him back.

_Alright, Jacob. I look forward to it._

With the extra time before class, I kept texting Jacob about work and he asked me how I liked my classes so far. When those topics were out of the way, he filled me in on what was going on at home and how everyone was doing. When my next class opened, I took a seat in the back of the room so the teacher wouldn't see me texting. Jacob lectured me for texting him while I was in class, but I knew he wasn't really mad about it.

Thankfully, the teacher never noticed I was texting. Once class was over, I was walking back to my dorm when I ran into Samantha, who told me about an improv show that was happening at the café in the top floor of the library and begged me to go with her and a few of her other friends. I was texting Jacob through most of that too, but the performance was good nonetheless.

After that, I finally got back to my dorm room and was ready to go to bed. I was really tired for some reason. It must've been all that walking. I tried calling Jacob as soon as I got home, but it was one o'clock, so I wasn't surprised when he didn't answer. He ended up calling me back later in the day when he was done with work. I felt a little bad spending hours talking to Jacob when Kelly was in the room trying to do her homework, but she promised it didn't bother her.

One Friday morning, I told Kelly that Jacob would be coming today. She nodded her head at me and said she would spend the day at the library or gym. Unlike me, Kelly didn't have classes on Friday. I voiced every chance I got how envious I was of her for that. I only had two classes on Friday, but it would've been nice to have the Friday off. I finished classes for the day at three in the afternoon and got back at three thirty. My class was on the other side of campus and it felt like a hike trying to get there on foot. With parking being the way it was, trying to drive from class to class was a little unethical.

As Kelly promised, she wasn't in our dorm when I got back. I found a note from her on my desk telling me that the gym would be open late, so she wouldn't come home until eleven so me and Jacob could be alone. I made a mental note to do something nice for her when I had the chance. I needed to pay her back for being inconveniencing herself without complaint. I'd treated Samantha to a shopping trip, so I would do something like that for Kelly too.

I knew it would be a while before Jacob arrived. I probably wouldn't see him until at least nine, so I made myself comfortable and started working on my homework for the week. I was finished with that within two hours, leaving me four more hours before I could expect Jacob to show up at my window. I just hoped he would remember what I told him about where I was staying. I told him that I would tie a yellow ribbon around the tree next to my window so he could find it. And anyone who saw it would naturally assume I was tying it around a tree to represent a desire for family to come home from overseas. It wasn't as common since the war in Iraq ended years ago, but soldiers were still stationed all over and families did it as a form of waiting for them to come home.

With my homework done, I went on the computer and started writing emails to friends and family. None of them would get them for a while assuming they weren't at their computer, but I'd been lectured by Aida for not emailing her more when I was last away, and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. To my surprise, and yet not really surprising at all, Madison answered my email almost immediately. What she sent me could only be described as a novel. It told me how much she missed me, asked me when I would be back next, how excited she was that I was emailing her, and on and on and on. It was like reading a book. I ended up getting an answer from Aida an hour after I sent her the email.

Thankfully, her email wasn't nearly as long, but it did tell me how she and Zeppelin were doing and that they still planned on moving in together and that she was already applying for scholarships so she could go to the Peninsula College for the nursing program and such. And I got a response from momma telling me how much everyone missed me and that she was glad I was enjoying my classes for the most part and so on.

While emailing, I went onto YouTube and looked for things to watch, even if they were full movies or episodes of shows. I didn't like watching movies via computer, but there wasn't much else for me to do with my time. When it was finally nine thirty, I heard a knock on my window and almost threw my computer against the wall with excitement, already knowing who it was. I ran to the window and opened it so Jacob could step in. When he was inside, I closed the window, turned to face him, then leaped into his arms and kissed him. Eventually, we stopped kissing and just hugged.

"I missed you so much, Jacob." He smiled against my neck.

"I missed you too, Nessie. It's so empty in that house without you."

"Just one more year and I'll be home for good, Jacob. Keep remembering that." He chuckled a little.

"I'll try."

We smiled for a moment before Jacob finally kissed me again and lifted me into his arms so we were facing each other on the same level. Jacob kept the kiss initially slow for a moment. I felt him start to walk in the direction of my bed and he placed me down when his knees touched the edge. He placed me down gently, taking his lips from mine to look at me. When I was on my back on the bed, Jacob rested his lips against my collarbone and started his exploration from there.

My hands rested on his face and held him where he was. Jacob kissed affectionately all over my collarbone, gradually going down slowly. When Jacob reached the top of my tank top, he took the cloth in his teeth and pulled it down until it was no longer covering my breasts. All that was left was my bra, but he didn't remove that right away. Instead, he kissed my breasts through the material and sucked my nipples when they were both hardened. Eventually, I wanted to feel him with nothing between us, so I ripped off my shirt and bra, which made Jacob smile.

Once those were off, Jacob did the same thing he'd done before, only to my bare skin. My sighed his name and held him where he was. Jacob took his time with my breasts, like he always did. I doubted I would ever get bored with the way he did it. Jacob wasn't wearing shirt with his sweat pants like normal, so I could feel the heat of his skin against mine. It made it seem like we were melting together. While Jacob was kissing me, I lifted my knees so I was straddling his waist and one of his hands trailed over to my thigh while the other stayed at my breast.

Jacob kissed further and further down my body until he reached my favorite spot. When he was there, his left hand held the outside of my thigh while the other stayed close, ready to tease my nub. His tongue played me like an instrument and I was moaning his name lovingly and breathlessly. I felt Jacob smile against me, but he didn't stop what he was doing. My nails were clawing into his skin as I moaned, making Jacob groan for me while he worked. I was on the verge of coming, but he didn't let me this time. He stopped when I told him how close he was, and kissed each little hickey mark he'd made earlier in the week, redefining them. He kissed each of them one by one until he eventually reached the one just below my left ear.

He was about to enter me, but I stopped him and pushed him onto his back. I was sure to aim for the side of the bed that was facing the wall. I didn't want another mishap where I accidentally pushed him off the bed. This time, his shoulder hit the wall, but he didn't complain. He brought his hands to my arms trying to pull me on top of him, but I fought him and brushed my hands down his chest until I pulled down his sweat pants and took his erection in my hands. As I was about to take him into my mouth, his hand laced through my hair and held on tightly. He didn't stop me, so I took him in and remembered to breathe through my nose while I did this. I sucked really hard when I was at the top, then bobbed my head up and down with that same pressure all over. Jacob groaned and tightened his grip in my hair as I went, but I ignored the initial pain of it.

I kept up the movements trying to keep it at the same pressure. I took him in a little father than I could manage at one point and pulled away so I could gasp in breath. Instead of continuing, I started kissing his chest as he sat back up and started caressing my back. Once I reached his collarbone, Jacob bent his head down and kissed my lips passionately. I wrapped my arms around his neck while his hands pulled my hips towards him and finally entered me. When I felt him inside me, I whined his name into his mouth and he took the opportunity to make our tongues duel.

Jacob's hands stayed at my hips and moved me as he wanted. I helped a little, but I liked it when he did most of the work. It made me feel demure. Because of everything we'd done, it took no time for us to reach our climax. I met mine within a few thrusts, and so did Jacob. But even after he came, he didn't stop moving. Instead, he turned over so he was on top of me and moved even faster than before. Because of it, I stayed in my high and seemed to rise higher again because of the forced arousal.

Normally, Jacob wouldn't bother, but right now, he was kissing me to make sure that my moans weren't too loud. When we were home, it didn't matter at all. He liked hearing me scream his name. But since we had a million neighbors in the dorms, Jacob made sure that my screams of pleasure stayed muffled by his lips on mine. As I went higher and higher, I tightened my grip further on Jacob with every thrust. I wanted to bite something, so I forced my mouth away from Jacob's and bit his neck. He groaned and kept going with my screams being muffled by his skin.

Eventually, I couldn't float in the sky anymore and I came with a bleeding scream into Jacob's neck, drawing blood from how hard I was biting him. Jacob groaned and sucked on my neck to muffle himself as well went he came with me, both of us spent and immovable. Jacob and I didn't move at all. We simply laid together breathing heavily into each other's skin holding each other tightly. Not wanting to suffocate me, Jacob rolled over so his back was against the wall and I turned so we were facing each other. I gave him a loving kiss and Jacob joined in eagerly with his hands immediately on my thighs.

"So when can we expect your roommate?" I looked over my shoulder at the clock to see the time. It was 10:20.

"Pretty soon. She said she'd be back by eleven. So we should get dressed before she gets here." Jacob smiled and nodded.

"I'm not sure I can stand to move right now." I giggled.

"Me either. How about we start getting dressed in about five minutes?" Jacob sighed and looked thoughtful.

"You know, I don't think I'll be able to move even then."

"Oh shush, Jacob. In five minutes we'll get dressed and do something else. The last thing I want to for Kelly to walk in on us when we're like this. She doesn't need to see what you and I do when we're alone." Jacob chuckled.

"I know Nessie. I'm just teasing you."

"I know, Jacob." Then Jacob got a look of remembrance to his face and smiled.

"You won't believe what happened Wednesday."

"What happened Wednesday?" Jacob grinned a little wider from humor and began to tell me what happened.

**Wednesday**

"Hey, dad, do you and mom mind if me and Valerie go outside and play?" Emmett looked out the window.

"In the rain?" Ryan nodded.

"I don't see a problem." Valerie interrupted Ryan.

"I do. I don't want to risk getting sick in that weather." Ryan sighed.

"Valerie, Nessie hasn't been sick any time in her life. If she can't get sick, believe me, we can't either."

"What makes you think she can't get sick?"

"Because she's been out in the rain with Jacob a million times and she's never gotten sick." Emmett sighed and interrupted.

"Look, I don't mind if you two play outside as long as you have a flashlight with you. Argue amongst yourselves." Then Emmett ran to get a flashlight and handed it to them and took a seat back on the couch with Jasper watching the game. "Have fun, you two."

They thanked Emmett, then walked to the door that opened to the backyard and Ryan pulled Valerie with him outside. Valerie complained the whole time. She hated rain. It was cold and dreary and it made her depressed. But Ryan didn't really care about the weather as long as he was able to go outside and explore, a habit that Emmett taught him with all the hunting trips, both for blood, and just for the fun of it.

For the twin's second birthday, Jasper had even gotten Ryan his own little 1860 elephant gun like the one he had from his days in the Confederate Army. (_Note: If those aren't the guns they used, feel free to tell me. But I've got to be honest, I don't know jack shit about guns. I know they kill zombies in Left 4 Dead and that's the extent of my knowledge_.) It was only for show of course, but Ryan loved that gun. And Emmett reasoned that he looked like he could pass for a thirteen year old by now, so what was the problem?

Rosalie hated that the twins were growing so fast. She knew they would, but she still wished they could've been little for a bit longer. By now, at the age of two, they already looked like preteens. Valerie wasn't developing quite yet, but Ryan was way ahead of her. He was already 5' 8", looking big for his age, with a deepening voice typical of a 13 year old boy and was starting to get hints of whiskers. It wouldn't be long before Alice and Rosalie insisted that he start shaving.

Valerie had reached a height of 5' 4" at this point, but she was still pretty scrawny and young looking. She had a stunning face, but everything else resembled the awkward, lanky, boney teenage girl she looked like. Her hair was curly as had darkened to a honey blonde over the years and was down to her back. Even now, Ryan and Valerie were thick as thieves, even though they argued all the time. Everything Ryan said was wrong, and everything Valerie did made her stupid, and everything ever said led to them arguing forever until eventually Emmett told them to shut up and they'd hug and make up, just to start the pattern over again. Unlike Octavia and Armando, Ryan refused to be ignored and said his opinion whether anyone liked it or not. Valerie was exactly the same way, only she was much more demure and backhanded about it. She had a habit of sounding conceded and obnoxious, a habit that Emmett was trying to get her out of.

"Why do you like playing in the rain so much, Ryan? It's so dirty outside."

"Well, sorry Valerie. There's no such thing as a nature maid. Though if you can find someone who's stupid enough to try and clean and sweep the forest, go ahead and employ them."

"Most certainly, Ryan. It's called a gardener."

"Gardeners make things grow. They don't sweep the dirt and cover the ground with plastic to avoid mud whenever it rains."

"I'm sure they would if they were paid enough." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"You're so stuck up sometimes, it's painful Valerie."

"And you're such a redneck, I'm ashamed to know you."

"Look, just because I think it would be fun to ride a mattress across the water, like hunting, eat a lot of venison, and can find entertainment with just about anything does not make me a redneck."

"Yes, but all those things that you mentioned are what make up a redneck. All that's left is for you and Nessie to go at it and you'll have had sex with your cousin."

"Oh come on, Valerie! That's an out of line statement, even for you."

"Ah yes, you'd much rather end up with sweet little miss Lia wouldn't you? Once you've deflowered her, you'd be right at home sitting in front of the TV drinking a beer and watching the game."

"Shut up, Valerie. I don't like beer for starters. And what about you, Miss Snit? Since we're going off stereotypes, why don't we work on labeling you."

"I'm not a redneck, Ryan."

"I never said you were. You're a socialite NYC Prep want-to-be who thinks she's so much better than anyone else because she has a pretty face. Well, guess what, you still have the body of a scrawny teenage boy."

"It's an awkward faze that I will immediately grow out of, Ryan! And I don't want to be like those stupid house wife and NYC Prep kids. They're obnoxious." Ryan shrugged.

"They're about as obnoxious as you." Valerie's eyes widened in horror.

"You take that back!"

"No!"

"Take it back, you Podunk white trash redneck!"

"No! And I'm not a Podunk white trash redneck, you obnoxious, self centered, vicious skank! And you know why you're that way? Because you're stupid. And another thing!"

He should've seen it coming after being together for so long, but he didn't. Valerie punched him in the nose to silence him before he could finish his sentence and held her head high and proud. It took a lot more than that to bring down Valerie's spirit. While Ryan was holding his hand over his nose and groaning in pain, Valerie started hearing something else. It was a much cutter sound, like a kitten meowing. Valerie looked around and found the sound in a tree to her left. She looked up and saw the cutest thing in a low branch. The kitten had a flat face that looked like it was a Persian. And her coat was silver grey and she was no bigger than Emmett's hand.

"Ryan, look." Valerie walked over to the tree and started climbing up.

"Look at what? Your panties that I can now see?" Valerie threw a loose branch at Ryan.

"NO! The kitten!"

"What kitten?"

"The kitten in the tree."

"Okay, what about it?" Valerie didn't answer Ryan this time. She just kept climbing the tree until she reached the branch where the grey Persian kitten was. It was meowing sweetly, obviously scared because it was so high up.

"Here, kitty, kitty. I won't hurt you." The kitten looked reluctant to come near Valerie.

Valerie didn't try to move too close to the kitten. It would just run away if she did that. Instead, she held out her hand and stayed still so the kitten could realize she meant it no harm. Eventually, after sitting there several minutes with Ryan yelling at Valerie to come down, the kitten tentatively walked over to Valerie's hand and sniffed. Then, when the kitten licked her fingers, she picked up the kitten and placed her in her lap. The kitten was soaked to the bone, poor thing. She had the most adorable green eyes and it started rubbing up against her and purring.

"Aw. Aren't you just the cutest thing?" Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Valerie, it's a flat faced hair ball. Will you come down now?" Valerie sighed and nodded. She held the kitten gently to her chest and jumped down from the tree and landed gracefully on her feet. The kitten kept meowing, but Valerie petted it's head to keep it calm. "So does it have a tag?"

"Nope. Poor thing seems to be all on its own."

"Yeah. Pity that. Now put it down and let's just go home since you're complaining so much."

"Yeah, let's go home." Then, without putting the kitten down, she started walking in the direction of the house.

"What, what are you doing?"

"Walking home."

"I mean with the cat!" Valerie smiled.

"Oh, this. I'm taking it home."

"What?"

"I'm taking it home."

"Are you out of your fucking mind? Dad's not going to let you keep that cat. He hates cats, you should know that."

"He'll make an exception for me." Ryan laughed without humor.

"Keep dreaming Peaches. He's about as likely to let you keep that cat as he is to shake hands with a hippy. He won't let you keep it."

"If I bat my eyelashes and say daddy, I'll be fine."

"Even that won't work on him when trying to convince dad to let you have a stupid cat."

"We'll see about that."

"Indeed we will." Ryan and Valerie grinned at each other challengingly and made their way back to the house. In that time, Valerie found that it was a male kitten and named him Marlboro.

"Why the hell are you naming him after cigarettes?"

"Because he's grey and smoky looking. And Smoky is far too common a name, and I think Marlboro is a beautiful name."

"Don't get attached to that stupid thing. Dad's not going to let you keep it anyway."

"As far as I'm concerned, Marlboro is now and forever part of the family. And daddy will let me keep him, even if I have to go so far as to beg with tears in my eyes."

"Even that won't work. Dad hates cats, end of story."

"We'll see about that."

Once again grinning challengingly, they walked back to the house. When they were close enough to the house, Edward heard their thoughts and laughed. Bella was sitting next to him at the piano and had been talking to him, though she didn't recall saying anything that would be funny.

"What's so funny, Edward?" Edward shook his head.

"Nothing, love. You'll see when the twins get back." Emmett overheard Edward and looked towards him.

"What did they do, Edward?"

"You'll find out in a minute, Emmett."

"Fuck that, I want to know now." Rosalie ran into the living room and swatted him. "What?! The twins aren't here."

"It doesn't matter, Emmett. I didn't mind the swearing when it was just us, but with the twins, I would like you to tone it down a bit." Emmett sighed.

"Alright, Rosalie."

"Thank you Emmett." Then Rosalie reached down and kissed Emmett's neck, then walked to the doors that led to the backyard to wait for the twins to come home. They came home shortly thereafter and Rosalie saw the fluffy thing in Valerie's arms, and groaned when she realized what it was. Valerie ran up to Rosalie with a smile on her face.

"Mommy, look what I found. I saved him from a tall branch." Rosalie sighed.

"Valerie, he's adorable, but you can't think your father will let you keep him."

"I won't let her keep what?" Then Emmett came to the door, saw the cat, and his face instantly changed. "No."

"Please, daddy? Please?"

"I said no, Valerie."

"But he's so cute."

"So are puppies, but we don't have them either now do we?" Rosalie sighed.

"Emmett, stop."

"I said no and that's final. We are not keeping a cat in this house."

"But Emmett, it's not our house, it's Carlisle's."

"And I'm pretty certain he doesn't want a cat in this house either. And you know how much of a perfectionist Esme is. She'd never let a cat in this house that could ruin her furniture." Valerie shook her head.

"He won't ruin any of the furniture. We'll give him plenty of scratching posts and Marlboro will never leave my sight." Emmett looked at Valerie.

"Marlboro?" Valerie nodded.

"That's his name. Marlboro. He's grey like smoke and I think it's a pretty name. Please can I keep him, daddy? Pretty please?"

"I said no, Valerie and that's final. I won't have a cat in this house." To Valerie's surprise, Carlisle chipped in.

"Well, Emmett, this isn't your house, it's mine. And frankly, I don't mind if Valerie has a cat." Then he looked at Rosalie. "Does the idea of having a cat bother you?" Rosalie shook her head.

"I've always wanted a cat." Carlisle nodded then looked at Esme.

"Esme, darling, would you mind having a cat?" Esme shrugged.

"As long as she makes sure the kitten doesn't scratch any of my furniture, I don't mind at all. I love cats." Carlisle smiled and looked at Jasper, Alice, Edward, and Bella.

"Do any of you care?" Jasper and Bella shook their heads. Alice grinned and did the same. Edward spoke indifferently.

"I don't really care that much. I was never a huge fan of cats, but as long as this cat doesn't turn into a vicious cat in old age, I'm fine with it." Carlisle smiled and looked back at Emmett.

"There you have it, Emmett. We all say she can have the cat."

"I said we aren't having a cat!"

"Please, daddy?"

Emmett looked at Valerie and saw the pouting face and batting eyelashes that Valerie always gave him whenever she really wanted something. Normally, he would be putty in her hands instantly, but this time he was hesitant. But she kept making the face and even had a small tear go down her face. Eventually, Emmett rolled his eyes, rubbed his face, and glared at the kitten.

"If that kitten ever bugs me.."

"OH THANK YOU, DADDY! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" With that, Valerie ran upstairs telling Marlboro how adorable he was and how he was the luckiest kitten in the world and Emmett heard the tub go on upstairs so she could clean him up.

"Emmett, please don't be mad." Rosalie said sweetly.

"I hate cats, Rosalie." Ryan stared at Emmett wide eyed.

"You're letting her keep it? Why?"

"Damn it, Ryan, you know why." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Awesome. So if I bat my eyelashes and say daddy, can we get a dog?" Esme shook her head.

"Out of the question. A cat is enough and a dog would be much harder to take care of. Dogs need much more love than a cat does and I'm afraid a dog wouldn't be happy with us."

"Are you kidding me? A dog would be thrilled." Emmett came to Ryan's defense.

"Exactly. I say that since Valerie gets her hairball, we should get a real pet, like a Great Dane or a German Sheppard." Carlisle shook his head.

"No, Emmett. If you want a dog, it has to be small. That's the only reason I'm alright with Valerie keeping that cat. It's small and easier to contain. If you two really want a dog, get a Chihuahua or something small like that." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Carlisle, that's not a dog, that's a Bennie Baby."

"Hell, it's not even that. It's a mouse." Rosalie came in.

"It is not a mouse, Emmett. Chihuahuas are dogs too. They're just very tiny."

"Rosalie, I should not be able to punt a dog." Rosalie smacked his shoulder. Ryan spoke again.

"What about a Labrador, Golden Retriever, Border collie, anything." Carlisle sighed.

"Those are all big dogs. It's either a small breed or it's no deal. End of story." Without letting anyone say another word, Carlisle and Esme went upstairs to his library and closed the door, not letting anyone in. Edward and the others took themselves out of the conversation, not wanting to be involved further.

"It doesn't have to be a Chihuahua, Emmett. Maybe it could be a Pomeranian or a miniature Pinscher, a Pekinese, something."

"I didn't grow up with purse dogs, Rosalie. I grew up with real dogs that knew how to hunt. What could a Pomeranian do, sit on its ass and look pretty while I shoot a deer?" Rosalie sighed.

"You heard Carlisle. Small or not at all."

"Find. Not at all it is."

"But that means Valerie has to give up the cat." Rosalie gave Ryan a stern look.

"It was agreed that she can keep the cat. Now either both of you get over this petty hatred you have of cats and get along with it, or keep the misery to yourselves and bitch about it when you're out hunting." Emmett nodded.

"Well then, Ryan, this sounds like a great opportunity for a hunting trip."

"Actually dad, I think I'm in the mood to fish." Emmett nodded.

"Fishing it is."

**Now**

I was stunned silent for a moment. I wasn't sure I believed him. Emmett allowing Valerie to keep a cat. It was as strange as Satan dating that nutritionist guy in South Park. Even that made more sense. With my silence, Jacob started laughing, but I couldn't laugh right away. I think I was simply too stunned to be amused at the moment. When I did speak at least, there was a hint of humor back in my voice.

"You mean Valerie has a Persian kitten named Marlboro now?" Still laughing, Jacob nodded his head. "And Emmett allowed it?"

"Not really. He was out ruled is all. Now they're trying to argue with Esme and Carlisle to even the score and let them have a big dog."

"There's no chance Carlisle will say yes." Jacob nodded.

"No chance in hell." We laughed together and Jacob gave me a quick kiss.

"We better get dressed now. Kelly will be back soon." Jacob sighed.

"Alright, baby." I smiled at him and we both got out of bed and gathered our clothes to get dressed. I threw Jacob a t-shirt to wear to bed. I didn't want Kelly seeing Jacob shirtless. He was mine to look at, frankly.

To keep ourselves entertained, Jacob and I talked for the rest of the time while we were waiting. He told me a few other new things that were going on and that Aida made sure to tell me hi. Leah and Hailey were doing pretty good from what Jacob told me. She didn't get to see him as often as she would like because of his parents, but when she did, they always had fun watching Sesame Street and other little kid shows. Hailey was already learning how to talk thanks to Leah. Her name was his first word. That might be the reason Mrs. Stanley didn't let Hailey and Leah see each other very often anymore. Twenty minutes later, the room to the dorm opened and Kelly walked in. I smiled.

"Hey, Kelly. How was your day?"

"Not too shabby. All my homework's done and I went to math tutoring and the gym. So it's been one hell of a day. How about you?"

"Pretty good. This is my husband Jacob. Jacob, this is my roommate Kelly." They both said hi to each other.

"It's nice to meet the man that was able to win over my roommate." Jacob chuckled.

"It's nice to meet my wife's roommate."

"I really am sorry I can't let you guys have the place to yourself for the weekend." I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, Kelly. The time we are getting is plenty and I'm happy to have it." She smiled shyly.

"If you insist."

With the last year of college, that had become the visitation routine. Jacob would come over almost every weekend and we would spend the day together doing everything we wanted to do, and Kelly would hang out with us at night before we went to bed. Kelly didn't talk a whole lot to Jacob, but she was never rude to him, and that made me happy. Jacob even commented that it was nice to have such a levelheaded roommate.

When I came home for Christmas that year, I finally got to meet the infamous Marlboro that Valerie had adopted. As Valerie promised, Marlboro had been no trouble. He scratched a little at hers and Ryan's furniture, but nothing else, so Esme was never bothered by the cat. And his litter box was outside on orders of Emmett, Esme, and Carlisle. Valerie made sure that Marlboro never bugged Emmett, but he and Ryan still hated the cat with an irrational passion. I found him to be sweet and adorable. Valerie made sure to keep his coat clean and poufy so his hair made him look twice the size he actually was.

"He's adorable, Valerie." Valerie smiled widely.

"I know he is. He's the best cat in the world. Aren't you, Marlboro?" She petted the cat behind his ears and he started purring loudly. It was kind of like listening to a lawn mower being started.

Looking around hers and Ryan's room made me laugh now. There were cat things all over the place. A cat post in each corner, little toys everywhere, a catnip ball, there was cat food in the kitchen now, the house had become a cat lover's house, even though half the people in the house either hated or weren't fond of cats. Daddy wasn't a huge fan of cats I knew. He thought they weren't a family pet per se. In his opinion, they were more single person pets or a masochist pet because they were generally so solitary and didn't need their owners. I thought it depended on the cat. Marlboro was one of the most spoiled cats I'd ever seen and there was no doubt in my mind he adored Valerie.

"Why does all the cat's things have to be in my room?" Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Our room, Ryan. And Marlboro's stuff is here so he can have access to anything he wants throughout the night."

"Which brings me to the question, 'why is this cat sleeping in my room'?"

"Our room, Ryan. And he's sleeping here because he wants to be with his mommy. Isn't that right, Marlboro? You love mommy very much. Yes you do." She kept petting the cat and he was purring away in contentment. "And besides, Ryan, Carlisle said you guys could have a dog as long as it was a small dog. Seriously, just get a Bishon, a Terrier, a Pomeranian, anything."

"Those aren't dogs, Valerie. Those are rats that wish they were dogs. I want a big smart dog, not a midget dog that's terrified by a running leaf and has a yappy bark." Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Ryan." I smiled.

"I just can't believe that of all the breeds of cats to find, it was a Persian. That's an expensive cat, Valerie. People don't just buy them for the hell of having them with prices like that."

"I know. Someone was careless enough to let him out, so I saved him. As far as I'm concerned, he's my baby now." I smiled.

"I wonder what it is that makes women get so attached to animals like this."

"Maternal instinct I imagine." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Girls like cute things. That's all it is." I giggled.

"We have to. That's part of the maternal instinct. When we think something's cute, we feel a need to take care of it."

"Whatever Nessie. Nothing you two say is going to get me to like that stupid cat." Valerie shrugged.

"Don't worry, Ryan. Marlboro doesn't like you either."

I giggled and shook my head while they kept arguing some more. The next day, Alice took me, Rosalie, and momma downtown to go shopping. Even to this day, shopping wasn't really momma's thing. It wasn't the most wonderful activity in the world, but I enjoyed it as long as we weren't out too long. Alice, on the other hand, would probably shop for days straight if malls didn't close at night.

Jacob was the one to drive me back this time when I needed to go back to Northwestern. We were talking through most of the car ride back and made as few stops for gas as possible. Jacob was going way over the speed limit, but with eyes like ours, we could spot a cop fast enough to slow down enough to not get caught. I asked Jacob if he'd ever gotten a ticket in his life and he laughed and said yes. He got a ticket when he was sixteen years old and he was speeding on his way home from a junk yard. He was sure to remind me of the time that he got pulled over the night he was getting me tampons, but he didn't get a ticket that time so it didn't count.

In the late afternoon when we arrived at Northwestern, Jacob helped me get the few things I took home back to my dorm where Kelly was sitting on her bed reading and listening to her IPod. I smiled and waved at her when she finally looked at me and I went back outside with Jacob. When we were outside together and reached his car, Jacob sat against the car and looked sad.

"Just one more semester, Jacob." He nodded.

"I know. I just need to remember that part." I smiled.

"You'll see me this weekend, right?" He nodded.

"Yeah. I', taking the day off so I can leave early and get here sooner." I smiled wider.

"That would be phenomenal." Jacob smiled.

"It would be." I sighed.

"Cheer up, Jacob. We'll see each other again soon."

"I know. It's just that we're so close to this all finally being over. I don't know if I can't take waiting anymore."

"You waited a year and a half, so you can wait another semester. But don't worry, Jacob. As soon as I'm finally done with college, I'm home for good." Jacob smiled wider.

"I look forward to it, Nessie. I love you, Renesmee."

"I love you too, Jacob." Jacob and I smiled at each other and he bent down to kiss me. He made the kiss last several minutes. We didn't stop until we heard a car alarm in the distance somewhere. When the kiss was over, reluctantly, Jacob and I said goodbye to each other and I Jacob didn't drive off until I waved at him from my dorm window.

"You two are so close. I'm jealous." I looked at Kelly and smiled.

"It's hard to find." She nodded.

"No doubt. Why didn't you go to a college closer to home?"

"My daddy wanted me to go to an out of state school or whatever really good school I could get into."

"And you picked Northwestern?" I giggled.

"I didn't want to go to Yale or Harvard or Dartmouth or Notre Dame or any of those other schools. I picked Northwestern because they're a little less expensive and I wouldn't be surrounded by people that think they know everything. As it is, I'm surrounded my Asian kids from Conant that have no idea what they want to do with their lives. That's the lesser of the evils." Kelly playfully gasped.

"Not all of them are idiots, Nessie."

"I never said all of them were. I'm just surrounded by enough no matter what school I go to that it never ceases to bug me. I know too many people that have cheated their way through life and never got caught for it." Kelly smiled.

"Isn't there a good school in Washington?"

"There is. But I didn't hear as many good things about them as I did about Northwestern. And they weren't offering me nearly as much money in scholarships."

"I thought most of the schools had offered to pay you to go to their college." I laughed again.

"With some, it seemed like it. But the college in Washington wasn't offering as much."

"Whatever works, I suppose. I'm glad you have someone to look forward to when this is all over." I smiled and looked out the window where Jacob's car had been.

"Me too, Kelly. Me too."


	31. Bronze And Green

**Bronze And Green**

Normally, people hate finals week of any schooling. But when it was final's week, I was giddy with anticipation. These were the last finals I would have before I went home for good. Jacob was excited too. He was getting his two weeks off for summer vacation and planned on helping me move the stuff in my dorm with momma and daddy. The last few months of school, I finally adopted a squirrel.

It wasn't an actual pet that you got to keep. There's a program at school where we can donate a dollar and we get to 'adopt' a squirrel. I decided to adopt the squirrel that threw berries at me all this semester when I was on my way to math class. It was close to the same reddish brown color as Jacob's wolf coat. Even if that squirrel was so mean to me, I couldn't help but love it. When I told Jacob about that, he just looked at me weird and said I wasted money on a mean squirrel. I just giggled and pinched him to put him back in line.

"I've got to say, Nessie, I'm really going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too, Kelly. I'm glad we could be friends. I was scared it would be awkward when I heard how shy you are." She nodded.

"I heard you were a know-it-all, so I was pretty nervous too."

"Who said I was a know-it-all?"

"That girl you were roommates with last year. Samantha?"

"Oh. I helped her with most of her homework, so that's probably why." She giggled.

"She looks like the type that needs a lot of homework help."

Kelly and I shared a laugh and we went back to studying for the finals. When finals week came along, I did each one a bit hastily. I'd gotten mostly A's in my classes, so I didn't really need to worry about bombing the finals. It was the day of my last final and I walked back to the dorm to get ready to pack when I saw daddy's Volvo parked in the lot. I walked over to the window, which was open, and saw them in there already packing my things. I'm sure momma and daddy already knew I was there, but they waited until I was standing in front of the window to look up and wave.

"Hey, Nessie. How do you think you did on your last final?" Jacob looked up when daddy spoke to me and stopped what he was doing and hopped out of the window to hug me.

"Finally, you'll be home for good." I nodded and hugged Jacob back.

"Yeah, finally. I'm going to guess that momma and daddy already made arrangements to have my associate degree delivered to me?" Jacob chuckled and nodded.

"You know Edward. He likes to make things happen fast." I heard daddy laugh.

"As I recall, Jacob, doing so was your idea. It would bring her home sooner was the thought that crossed you mind."

"You're the one who said it, Edward. I just thought it." Daddy chuckled and turned his attention to me.

"Your husband's blaming me for things, young lady." I smiled at his teasing tone and looked at Jacob with a fake, lecturing face that made him laugh a little.

"Jacob Black, you be nice to my daddy." He nodded.

"Sorry honey." I smiled and Jacob bent down and kissed my forehead.

I went inside through the window with Jacob when that was over and helped with what little packing there was left to do. I asked them how they got into the dorm, and Jacob told me he knocked on the window and Kelly opened the door since she was on her way to a biology final anyway. I insisted that we wait until she got back before we left. I wanted to say goodbye to her. Daddy was reluctant since the sun was out and bright. They could elude onlookers when they ran to the room at top speed and the entrance and window were shaded by the tree. But with Kelly watching, they couldn't run at a blinding speed.

Momma and daddy decided to wait for me in the car. Jacob waited in my dorm with me. He wanted to say bye to Kelly too. She didn't talk to him much, but Jacob liked what little he did know about her and was happy I had someone on campus to keep me company when he wasn't here. Kelly got back to the dorm a half hour after I got back and when she saw Jacob, she knew I was leaving.

"It was fun, Nessie. Good luck to you."

"You too, Kelly. I hope Biochemistry goes well for you." She laughed without humor.

"I do too." Then she walked closer to me and we hugged. "I'll miss you. You were my favorite roommate."

"Likewise."

After Kelly and I were done saying goodbye, Jacob took a second to say goodbye to her before we went outside and got into the backseat of the Volvo and drove off. My suitcases and things were all in the trunk, but a few other things were in the backseat, so Jacob and I had to sit on each other to fit. I didn't mind spending the drive sitting it Jacob's lap or anything. It was just the fact that even in this position, the back seat was cramped. Between my computer and the door, Jacob was being forced to bring in his shoulders to make that part of his less wide. It didn't work too well, so Jacob was very uncomfortable for most of the drive home. I hate to admit I think daddy found some humor in it. Half way through Canada on our way home, we stopped at a gas station to fill up and so Jacob could get some food and use the bathroom.

"Do you think we could rearrange a few things in that car?"

"We'll only take four more hours, Jacob. And daddy wants to get home, so I doubt he's willing to move things around."

"And here, I thought Edward and I were friends." I giggled.

"You are. That's precisely the reason he won't do it for you. Aren't men like that?"

"If they're really close, I guess."

"Exactly. I know you would do something like that to Paul."

"Yes, but that's not because we're close. I'd do that to him because I think its fun to put him in his place."

"He's not like that and you know it. You and Billy just don't get along with him because you guys think Rachael could do better. And as far as I know, you and Paul used to be friends."

"Nessie, he's a year older than me. Normally, big deal, but to him, it made him a fucking god." I sighed.

"You two are friends. Maybe not before you guys were pack members, but you're both friends. I know you well enough to know when you sincerely hate someone or not." He smiled.

"I bet you do, Nessie."

"And don't buy anything that's got too heavy of a smell, okay. I don't want to drive home with the car smelling like nachos or something." Jacob chuckled.

"Oh come on, Nessie. I need to get back at Edward somehow."

"He already thinks you smell like a wet dog, Jacob. That's enough. Even with all the windows open, he can still smell it."

"Maybe, but there would be few things funnier than watching Edward try to keep a straight face with the smell of jalapeños heavy in the air."

"Just because you want to tease daddy doesn't mean momma and I have to suffer too." Jacob smiled guiltily.

"I guess I didn't think about that." I patted his chest as we walked through the small aisles of the gas station.

"Don't worry, Jacob. I understand." Jacob chuckled and reached down to kiss my forehead.

"You always do, Nessie." I giggled.

"I try, Jacob. I try."

As I asked, he didn't get anything with a horribly heavy smell. He picked a sandwich of some nature and a bag of chips. Once he had everything, we went back outside to the car and climbed in together, me still having to sit in Jacob's lap. It wasn't that I minded, but the cramped space that kind of bugged me, so I was relieved when we were out of Canada and drove back into Washington. By the time we got back, it was late at night and Jacob and I were both asleep in the back seat. Momma nudged us both awake when we were parked in front of mine and Jacob's house while daddy started unloading all my things.

"We're home, Nessie." I smiled at momma when my eyes were finally open.

"Finally." I crawled out of Jacob's lap and walked away from the car so Jacob could get out too, though he was more asleep than anything.

I gently nudged Jacob until he was groaning in dismay trying to wake up. Daddy had already unloaded and unpacked everything, so I took Jacob with me upstairs and he crawled into bed and was asleep within five minutes. I knew Jacob hated driving for hours like that, especially under those conditions. He loved driving and he loved cars, but there was only so long he could stand sitting in a cramped space hardly moving.

When Jacob was sound asleep, I went to the bathroom to take a long, hot shower that I'd been wanted since earlier today after the final. I was in the shower enjoying myself until the water started getting cold and I couldn't enjoy it anymore. I dried off quickly, far too tired to get my hair completely dry. I could mess around with it in the morning. Jacob was on top of the covers, so I didn't bother trying to pull them over me. Instead, I cuddled close to Jacob and let him be my blanket for the night. Normally, we would be using this time to make love since we wouldn't have much time together. But now, we could finally take all the time in the world with just about everything.

In the morning, I was woken up by a high sensation going throughout my body and I realized I was moaning. Jacob's arms were wrapped around me and he was kissing my neck affectionately. I realized we were both undressed and I turned my head to look at Jacob, who brought his lips away from my neck to smile at me.

"I should've guessed you would do that." He smiled.

"I thought you liked it when I did."

"Indeed I do. I'm just starting to wish I'd done a better job with my hair so it would be remotely presentable when you started." Jacob chuckled and kissed me.

"You're always perfect Nessie. Besides, I wanted to make up for falling asleep last night."

"If you didn't, I would've. I was just as tired as you were."

"That's true. Unfortunately, I have patrol tonight, but we have all day to be together." I smiled and turned in his arms so we were facing each other.

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"I'd say we should go about our plans for the day then, wouldn't you say?" Jacob simply nodded, and he pushed me on my back and was kissing me without ever leaving me.

That's what we did for most of the day, on and off. I was so happy to be home and so was he. It was our way of celebrating since I don't really eat. Jacob even offered to let me come with him on patrol tonight so I could hunt. I happily agreed. When I was at college, hunting was really hard. There were hardly any wooded areas near the campus and I would never drink the blood of a fellow student. I sometimes had to resort to stealing some from the hospital that was close by. That certainly wasn't an easy task either. Carlisle would send me blood sometimes, but that led to the problem of how would I hide it from my roommate. It was such a relief to not have to worry about that anymore.

I made Jacob a quick dinner before we went out on patrol and I wasn't out for much longer than two hours. I had gotten two deer and I was happy. And I was already tired and wanted to go home and sleep. I couldn't fathom how Jacob handled doing this every other night. They would all take turns napping throughout patrol, which made it seem a lot more reasonable, but I knew Jacob wasn't one that easily stayed on his feet from a mere nap.

"I'm going home, okay, Jacob." He nudged my chest and look at me with questioning eyes. "I'm tired. I should let you and the guys handle patrol without me bugging you." Jacob whined a little, then gave me a wolfy grin and licked my face. "I love you too Jacob."

Once I was home, I took another shower and went straight to bed. When I opened my eyes the next morning, Jacob was in bed with me sleeping away. I smiled and caressed his sleeping face and kissed him before getting out of bed to go downstairs and make him breakfast. I wasn't sure how long he would be asleep, so I thought it would be best to go extravagant and make him steak. When I got downstairs and looked in the fridge, I looked around for a steak, but there was nothing. I sighed to myself, remembering that Jacob had been alone in this house for several months and probably had nothing in his fridge. I should've known I was spoiling him throughout my life by getting his groceries.

I went back upstairs and got dressed in a pair of pants and long sleeve shirt and a pair of tennis shoes. When I walked out, Jacob was still fast asleep. I looked around until I found a pen and paper and wrote down that I was going to the store and would be back soon. I placed it on the nightstand next to Jacob's side of the bed and bent down to kiss his cheek before going back downstairs, grabbing my keys and raincoat on the way out. I was so relieved that our cars were in garages. It made the seasons so much easier to deal with.

I knew the grocery store in forks wouldn't be open, so I drove all the way to Port Angeles. They had a wider selection and better prices anyway. When I was there, I got plenty of sauerkraut, cappers, and portabella mushrooms. And they were all on sale which made it even better. Once I had what I wanted, I went through the grocery store to look for things I could use for dinner and such. I bought plenty of steaks, some pork loin shoulder and a few other parts that I knew he liked, some chicken, lamb, and so on.

While I was getting all the meats, I hoped that I had enough room in my freezer for all these things. That was the only way I could make sure that meats I wouldn't use for a while didn't go bad. With the meats in hand, I started looking through the vegetables and got a bunch of greens and zucchinis, squash, spinach, and so on. He needed to eat more vegetables. And something told me that Emily had a really hard time getting him to eat any. Jacob was more stubborn than their seven and four year old Mikey and Katie.

I couldn't believe Mikey and Katie were getting so big. It felt like yesterday that Mikey could hardly speak. Now he and Katie babbled away all the time. And Alison Shea and Katie were best friends. They played together almost every day and went to school together, same with Mikey. Even now, I couldn't believe that Mikey was in the second grade, Alison Shea was in the first grade, and Katie was in preschool.

When I had everything that I needed, I doubled checked what was in the cart to make sure there wasn't anything that I was forgetting and made my way to the cashier when I was certain I had everything. I couldn't believe there was a long line this early in the morning. There were only two cashiers open and both were packed. And figures, the three people that were in front of me had full carts and one of them had a check book. For the love of god, who still used a check book?

As I was in line longer and longer, I could feel my mood progressively getting worse with the time I was having to wait to pay for everything and I was suddenly feeling chronically tired. I started leaning against the cart but tried to keep my eyes open so I would move with the line, though I wasn't sure exactly when that would be. I waited a good six minutes in that line, all the while getting more and more tired. When it was finally my turn, I was almost dead asleep and was putting the items on the belt aimlessly. The cashier had to tell me what I owed three times before I finally heard her.

Once I'd paid for everything and put the bags back in the cart, I tried really hard not to yawn and made my way to my car. I got the groceries loaded into the trunk of my car and put the cart in the designated drop off spot before going back and getting in. But when I was in my car and put the keys in the ignition, I couldn't seem to stay awake anymore. I had simply rested my head on the steering wheel and before I knew it, my cell phone was ringing in my purse. I knew the ringtone to be Jacob and it startled me out of sleep. I hurried to get my phone and answered hurriedly.

"Hello?"

"_Nessie? Where are you? Are you okay?"_ He sounded really worried. Why would he be worried? I'd only been gone for about an hour.

"Of course I'm okay. I'm at the grocery store. I just got into my car and I'm on my way home right now."

"_What do you mean you just got into your car? What did you buy that took you five hours, Nessie?"_ That's when my eyes widened.

"Five hours? I was only gone for an hour."

"_No you weren't. I heard you leave the house at about 9:00 and now it's two in the afternoon."_

"Are you sure?"

"_I'm positive. What were you doing for five hours?"_ I sighed and shook my head, hoping to clear it and think.

"I was really drowsy while shopping and I rested my head on the steering wheel for a bit. I didn't think I'd been asleep that long. I'm sorry, Jacob."

"_It's alright. I just wanted to know where you were. Are you alright? It's not like you to get that tired after a full night sleep."_

"I know it isn't. I just got really tired and I needed to rest my head on something. I'll be home soon."

"_Maybe me and Edward should come get you if you're that tired."_ I shook my head.

"No, don't do that. I'll be fine. I just needed a nap and that's what I got. I'll be home soon, Jacob. I love you."

"_Okay, I love you too."_ I hung up the phone and was still a little baffled. There was no way I'd been asleep for five hours.

I turned the keys that were still in the ignition and looked right at the clock to make sure I'd actually been out that long. The sun looked brighter, but that was common in the morning. But sure enough when I saw the clock, 2:35 as Jacob had said. I couldn't believe I'd fallen asleep in my car in front of a grocery store. I didn't want to over think the situation. So I buckled in and drove back home without anymore chronic tiredness. Jacob was in the garage adding something to his bike, waiting for me. When I got home, he stood and walked over to me when I got out of the car.

"When did you go to bed last night?"

"As soon as I got home. Why?"

"I'm just trying to understand how this happened is all. Are you alright? Do you want me to take care of the groceries?"

"You don't need to do all of it, Jacob. I took the nap, I'm fine now. I just want you to help me bring them in." When I was done talking, Jacob looked surprised. "What?"

"Did I do something?" Now I was giving him a weird look.

"Why do you think you did something?"

"Because you're giving me a tone."

"Tone, what tone? I'm not giving you a tone."

"Yes you are. I asked you a simple question Nessie and you barked an answer at me. So either it's that time of the month or I did something. So which is it?" I wasn't mad before, but now I was.

"Look who's giving a tone now."

"Just tell me which it is, Nessie."

"Jacob, we wouldn't have had sex if it was that time of the month."

"Then I did something?"

"You didn't do anything!"

"Then why are you yelling at me?!"

"I don't know! You tell me!"

"I don't know why you're yelling at me!" Having had enough of the conversation, I walked over to the car and opened the trunk so I could get the groceries. I took as many bags as I could carry at once, leaving three in there, and started walking towards the door. "Oh, come on, Nessie, let me help."

"You don't need to help, Jacob."

"Alright, fine, I won't help then."

While I carried the groceries in, I saw Jacob turn his attention back to his bike with a scowl on his face. Doing that was only going to make the situation worse. I put all the bags on the counter in the kitchen and made sure they were balanced and wouldn't fall over before going towards the garage to get the last few. But on my way, Jacob walked into the kitchen with the rest of the bags and my keys and put them on an empty counter and went back to the garage.

I thought better than to start yelling at him and looked at the clock on the stove. It was three now so I would have to start dinner soon. I groaned and rested my head on the counter. I didn't get up right away. I started feeling really tired again. Before I knew it, I yawned, closed my eyes, and I felt someone nudge me awake. My head shot up in surprise and I saw Jacob standing next to me.

"Jesus, Nessie, it's just me. Calm down." I looked around at the counters and saw the groceries were gone.

"Where're all the groceries?"

"I put them away for you. I came in here to say I was sorry and I found you asleep on the counter. Are you sure you're alright?" I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry about earlier. I don't know why I was giving you an attitude." Jacob took me into a hug and rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just worried about you. When you left me a note telling me you'd be at the store, I assumed that meant you would only be gone for about two hours. Not five."

"I know. I didn't know I was gone that long."

"Maybe you should talk to Carlisle." I shook my head.

"Jacob, there's nothing wrong with me. I was tired is all. That's hardly something to be concerned about when it only happened once."

"Twice, Nessie. It's six." I shot a look at him, then looked at the clock that said 6:24.

"You're kidding me?"

"Don't worry about making anything, Nessie. Just go get some sleep."

"I'm fine, Jacob, I promise. I'll make you the breakfast I promised you."

"Hurray, breakfast for dinner. My mom used to do that all the time." I smiled.

"Good."

I stood on my toes and kissed Jacob before walking to the fridge and pulling out one of the steaks. Thankfully, Jacob knew what meats I put in the freezer and what not, so I was relieved I wouldn't need to rearrange anything. Jacob stayed with me in the kitchen while I cooked him dinner. I think he just wanted to stay close by so he would know what was going on. I wasn't sure why I was falling asleep so much. I was probably about to start my period or something, so I wasn't really concerned with it.

"You're okay with steak and eggs, right?" He smiled and hugged me from behind and kissed my neck.

"When have I not been?" I giggled.

"Point taken. Do you want orange juice with this?"

"I'm in the mood for a Budweiser actually."

"With steak and eggs?" Jacob shrugged.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I've just never heard of beer with breakfast."

"Not when it's breakfast in the morning. This is breakfast for dinner, so it's okay."

"Whatever you say Jacob. Just don't go overboard."

"I won't Nessie." Then Jacob kissed my neck and watched me finish cooking.

When it was done, Jacob and I sat together at the table and Jacob enjoyed his dinner. I knew he wanted to, but he didn't ask me anything about the day. I was relieved that he didn't. I wouldn't know what to tell him anyway. Instead, I made Jacob tell me about the new addition he was adding to his bike. He said he was adding something that would make the bike faster, and he was adding a bitch seat.

"A what?" He chuckled at my tone.

"A bitch seat. It's what the second seat on a motorcycle is called. I've needed to get one on it for a while and now I'm finally getting around to it."

"I thought motorcycles all that them to begin with."

"It depends on the bike. And Bella got them for free from someone when the bikes didn't run worth shit, so they weren't in prime condition."

"The bikes beautiful now."

"I know it is, Nessie." Jacob looked proud of himself and the look made me laugh a little.

"I suppose it's a given since you're the one who fixed it up."

"Indeed it is, Nessie."

I smiled and rested my head against his shoulder while he finished eating. When he was done, he helped me clean the dishes and we went to the garage together so he could show me the progress he was making on the bike. Jacob and momma didn't get to go riding as often as I think they would like, but I knew Jacob would set something up soon just so he could show off the new features of his bike.

"When was the last time you and momma got to do this?"

"About eight months ago I think. We both missed you, so we got together and talked about it." I rolled my eyes.

"That can't be the only reason."

"It wasn't, but we did talk a lot about you."

"How long do you think these modifications will take you?"

"Not long. I think I'll be done before the weekend. I'll wait to set something up with Bella until I have the bike done."

"That's a good idea. You never know what might come up." I winked at Jacob and that earned a laugh from him.

"True, Nessie." We smiled at each other a moment before he spoke again. "So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I was never mad at you, Jacob." He nodded.

"Okay. You know I'm annoying because I care, right?" I giggled and nodded.

"I know. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Good. Neither would I." I smiled and Jacob pulled me into his lap and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "What do you think Edward would say if I built you a bike?"

"What do you think daddy would do if you built me a bike?" Jacob chuckled at the sarcasm in my voice.

"Alright daddy's girl. No bike." I giggled.

"That would be best I think." Jacob chuckled and kissed me.

"Whatever you say, baby." Jacob let me stay in his lap while he finished up for the night. While he was working, I started kissing his neck for his attention. "By the way, Nessie."

"Yes, Jacob?" I spoke between kisses on his neck.

"I have some good news."

"Really? And that is?" I took my face from his neck to look at him and he was grinning triumphantly.

"I quit." I became wide eyed.

"What?"

"I quit the repair shop."

"That's good news?" He nodded.

"Really good news. I wanted to wait and tell you this until everything was in order."

"You're going to have to be a little less vague." He smiled.

"There was a small shop that was for lease near the Newton's equipment shop. I bought it and I'm opening a new repair shop." I finally smiled.

"You mean you own your own repair shop now?"

"We do. You're the co-owner and manager. I figure since you have a degree in business, you're perfect for the job. We already have a few customers thanks to the three people I hired to work as repairmen. And I hired a college student as the desk worker. He's majoring in auto-repair, so it's good experience for him."

"Jacob, that's great! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise for when you got home. I told the family to keep quiet about it too. I wanted to be the one to tell you."

"I'm so proud of you, Jacob. So what are you calling it?"

"Black Auto Repair." I grinned.

"So how does it feel to have your own business, Jacob?"

"Pretty damn good, actually."

"So does that mean you're going to work on Monday?"

"We're both going to work on Monday." I giggled.

"Hurray. I have a job right out of college and I didn't even have to interview. All I had to do was sleep with the boss." Jacob laughed and rested his head on my chest.

"I'm not your boss, Nessie. We're co-owners. And I have you this job a long time ago."

"I know. I'm just teasing you. I can't wait for work."

"Me either." We smiled at each other and Jacob kissed me lovingly.

Jacob moved me around without taking his lips from mine until he could carry me bridal style. He started walking us out of the garage and I was sure to open the door so he wouldn't have to let go of me. He walked us up the stairs and to our room and placed me in our bed, taking a spot next to me. Before kissing me, I pulled Jacob's shirt off and threw it in a random direction.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and trailed my hands over his back and he bent his head down to kiss me, immediately forcing his tongue past my lips. His hands went on my back to the hem of my shirt and he started pulling that up. We parted long enough for him to take off my shirt and his hands went to my breasts this time and he started kissing the valley between my breasts. I lifted my chest so I could reach under and unhook my bra. Jacob pulled it the rest of the way off when it was unhooked.

The moment my bra was off, Jacob took the tip of my breast in his mouth and started sucking. I moaned his name while my fingers trailed into his hair and scratched my nails lovingly against his scalp. His hands went to my pants and he undid them and pushed my pants and panties, then started rubbing my nub and inserted two fingers inside me. I moaned and rested my head against the pillow. I tried reached down to undo his pants, but I couldn't reach. Instead, I started pushing them down with my toes, though still getting nowhere with it.

I felt Jacob smile against my chest and that hand that was massaging my breast went down between us and undid his pants for me. Once undone, I pushed them and his boxers down. Jacob kicked them off the rest of the way along with his shoes and socks. Then he sat up and pulled my garments, socks, and shoes the rest of the way off too. I lifted myself up and wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to me.

He took my lips in a kiss and entered me and we both groaned in pleasure. Jacob's movements were slow and sweet at first. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him deeper in. That made him increase his movements and it felt even better for a moment. But while he was moving, I started feeling a sharp pain in my abdomen and a horrible pressure in my throat. I took my lips away so I could breath and Jacob started kissing my neck.

"Jacob, please." My voice sounded low, almost like I was moaning, so Jacob started moving even faster, and that just made me feel worse. "Jacob, stop, please, I need you to stop!" Jacob stopped and took his face away from my neck and looked at me.

"What's wrong?" I barely gave him a chance to get the question out. I forced Jacob off me and ran to the bathroom and threw up as soon as my head was over the toilet. The sharp pain was gone, but the pressure was still there. "Nessie?!"

I heard Jacob come in and he held my hair back as I vomited. I stopped for a moment, then the pressure come back with a vengeance and tears were forced into my eyes from the pressure and discomfort. Jacob started rubbing my back gently as I vomited and it helped make it a little less uncomfortable and everything came up easier. Jacob waited patiently for me to finish and I kept my head in place until three minutes went by with no pressure at all. When it was gone, I groaned and flushed the toilet while leaning against the wall.

"Looks like I'm starting my period."

"You're periods aren't this bad."

"They rarely do. They started getting this bad last year, I think. I'll usually vomit once, but then I'll be done."

"Why would your periods get worse?"

"Stress most likely. I figured that once I was home for good, I wouldn't get them this bad anymore. Evidently, I was wrong."

"I'm sorry, Nessie. I thought you wanted me to go faster."

"I know. It's okay, Jacob. I'm already feeling a lot better. We can still finish." Jacob shook his head.

"No, we won't. Don't worry about me, alright. I just want you to feel better." I smiled.

"You're so sweet, Jacob. I love you."

"I love you too. Let's just go to bed, okay." I nodded.

"Alright."

Jacob helped me to my feet and stayed with me while I brushed my teeth really quickly and took me with him to bed. Jacob held me close and I fell fast asleep in his arms. When I woke up, the light was blinding and Jacob wasn't there. While squinting my eyes, I looked around for him, but he wasn't there. There wasn't a note on the nightstand, so I assumed he was still in the house. Then I looked at the clock and my eyes went wide. It was 3:50 in the afternoon.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I mumbled to myself.

I got up out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When I got in the shower, I noticed there was a little blood between my legs. My period, just as I figured. I was surprised that the flow didn't look that heavy, but I wasn't really that concerned about it. I was more concerned with the fact that my head was pounding. It figures I would have my period the week I start working.

I walked back into the room and glanced over at the phone only to notice the light was flashing. Fantastic. Messages. There were four, and I was desperately hoping they were just messages from telemarketers or something unimportant so I could immediately delete them. I don't know how much phone tone my head can handle right now. Thankfully, the first message was something about a state-wide survey, so I immediately deleted it. But I was cursing the phone when the second message came up.

"_Hey, Nessie, baby, it's Aunty Alice. I'm calling because I thought it would be fun if we went shopping. I can't have you going to work for the first time without a perfect outfit, now can I? Call me when you're ready to go, okay Nessie? I'll see you soon, honey. Smooch, smooch."_ I groaned and was about to pick up the phone, but then another message from Alice came up.

"_Okay, so you didn't call me when I left a message on your house phone and you won't answer your cell phone. I can't see you, Nessie, so you have to help me out here. Call me back immediately."_ I groaned again. I got this message at one. The first one I got at eight in the morning. I picked up the phone and called Alice's cell and when she answered, she sounded offended.

"_Goodness, Nessie, you better have been dead to ignore me that long."_

"I wasn't ignoring you, Alice, I'm sorry. I just woke up." There was a silence at the end of the phone.

"_It's four in the afternoon and you just woke up?"_ I nodded.

"Yeah."

"_What time did you and Jacob go to bed last night, Nessie? I've heard of sleeping in, but that's excessive, even for a teenager."_

"I know it is. We went to sleep at ten, so I don't know why I was asleep so late. I fell asleep twice during the day yesterday. I fell asleep in my car in front of the grocery store and was asleep for five hours without even realizing it, then I fell asleep on the kitchen counter and was asleep for three hours then. What's worse is while Jacob and I were making love, I got sick and vomited."

"_Nessie, dear, I know you and Jacob are..active, but I don't really want to hear it."_

"I know, Alice, but this is serious. Now he probably thinks he did something wrong and I feel horrible. Emotionally and physically at the moment."

"_It's that time of the month, Nessie. You can't help that. I don't even get them anymore and I figured that out."_

"Alice!"

"_Alright, alright, alright, I'll stop being mean. And don't snap at me, Nessie. I'm going to assume that you're not in the mood to shop."_

"That would be correct. My head's killing me."

"_Alright, sweetheart, I understand. But at least come over for the rest of the day. Jacob, Quil, Paul, Embry, and Seth are fishing for the rest of the day, so that gives you the time to hang out with us."_

"Is that where Jacob is?" Alice sounded concerned.

"_Yes. Why didn't he tell you?"_

"He probably did. I must've forgotten or something. Alright, I'll be over in a minute."

"_We'll see you in a few minutes, sweetie. Love you."_

"I love you too, Alice." I hung up the phone and went to my cell phone to see what messages were left there.

I had five, which stunned me. I had a text from Aida telling me we needed to do something, and two messages from Alice and from Jacob. I groaned at myself again and rubbed my face. This was going to be a miserable period week, I could tell.

**JPOV Earlier that day**

"Wait. She vomited while you two were having sex?" I groaned.

"Yes, Embry, that's what I'm saying. There, I told you guys what's bugging me, so can we drop it now?" I avoided looking at any of them and stared at the sunrise. I'd completely forgotten to tell Nessie me and the guys were going fishing today, but I was hoping she wouldn't be mad since I left a note on the fridge.

"What the hell did you do, Jacob. I never thought you would be that bad." Paul was sitting right next to me, so I punched him across the face, breaking his nose for the umpteenth time, and he fell into the water from the force.

"That's not the reason." Paul held onto the side of the boat and gave me a look of death.

"You know, Jacob, you could've just said no. When we get back to shore, you can have the honor of telling my wife that she has another blood stain that she needs to get out of my shirt."

"It's your shirt, Paul, you clean it. Don't torture my sister because you're retarded." Quil interrupted us to stop the bickering.

"So what happened? Is it that time of the month or something?"

"That's what she told me. Now let's drop it. This isn't something we should be talking about." We all looked at Paul while he nearly dragged us all under while pulling himself back into the boat.

"Well, Jacob, excuse us for caring about your marriage." I rolled my eyes at Paul and Seth spoke to change the subject.

"So…..second anniversary coming up, huh? What are you two planning?" I smiled gratefully at Seth for the much needed change in topic.

"I thought it might be fun to take her cliff diving."

"Christ, Jacob, whatever happened to dinner?" I struck a mean look at Paul.

"She doesn't eat, dipshit." Seth interrupted again.

"Cliff diving sounds like a lot of fun. And hey, look at this whole thing this way, Jacob. If she gets her period now, she won't have it during your anniversary." There was a collective nod and word of agreement, then Quil turned his attention to Seth.

"So when did you say the wedding date would be?" Seth smiled that silly grin of his.

"August 18th. Her parents insisted on having the wedding at a Baptist church in Seattle. I'm happy to marry her wherever and since they're the ones paying for most of it, I'm not in a position to argue anyway."

"We're going to a Baptist church?" Seth smiled guiltily and nodded at Quil, who groaned.

"But it won't be a traditional Quileute wedding."

"We're keeping it traditional. Her parents just demanded we have the ceremony at the church, but Alyssa insisted that they let her, aka me, take care of the arrangements. It'll be a traditional ceremony, just in an unusual setting is all." Quil sighed in relief.

"Okay, good. So what are you going to do for her parents as a sign of devotion to Alyssa?" Seth chuckled.

"Alyssa said not to mention that. Her parents don't really like me, so there's no telling what they'll suggest." I gave Seth a weird look.

"They don't like you?" Seth shook his head. "Why? What's not to like about you?" Seth sighed.

"They don't like that I'm an Indian. They think she can do better." There was a collective silence that Paul eventually ended.

"Excuse me." Quil spoke next.

"They hate you because you're Native American? That's bullshit."

"I know it is. But they live all the way in Boston, so it's not that much of an issue."

"It is too an issue, Seth. They can't assume that you're not good enough because of your race. That's bullshit."

"I'm not marrying them, Paul. I'm marrying Alyssa and she loves me for me as I am. That's all I care about. And this is strictly between you and me, but as far as I'm concerned, if her parents don't like me, they can kiss my red ass because I'm marrying their daughter whether they like it or not." We all applauded and Seth started blushing.

"Now that's what I call being a man." We all gave Paul a weird stare, but then shared a small laugh and kept talking while fishing. Later in the morning, I got a text from Alice saying that she was taking Nessie shopping and that I should meet everyone back at her parent's house. I tried calling Nessie's cell phone twice, but she didn't answer either time. "What's the matter?"

"I'm trying to call Nessie's cell phone, but she isn't answering me." Seth shrugged.

"Maybe she can't hear it." I shook my head.

"She would be able to hear it. And she would never forget her phone." I dialed Alice's phone and she answered on the first ring.

"_Yes, Jacob?"_

"Alice, is Nessie with you? I can't get a hold of her on her cell phone."

"_Neither can I. I've called her twice and she didn't answer. She's probably sleeping in or something."_ I groaned.

"That might just be it." Alice sighed.

"_I'll call her again this afternoon. If she doesn't call me back by then, I'll go to your house and check on her." _

"Thanks, Alice. Text me when you get a call back, alright?"

**NPOV present**

I drove up to the house and parked my car in an empty space in the garage. The Advil I'd taken for my head wasn't doing me any good and my head was hurting worse than it had been this morning. I needed to rest my head, so I rested my head against the wheel of my car and then I heard a tapping on my car window. It was Alice. I groaned and she opened my door with a smile.

"Oh no you don't, Nessie. If you want to rest, that's fine, but at least come inside first."

"Alright, Alice, I'm coming." Alice kept smiling and stood by my car and walked me into the house with her. Momma walked over to me and hugged me. Then she started taking my temperature. I glanced in Carlisle's direction and he was giving me an odd look, to which daddy looked surprised. "Momma, what are you doing?"

"I'm making sure you aren't coming down with anything. You're normal body temperature's 108°F, and I'm checking if you're higher."

"Am I?" She nodded.

"It's not enough that I would worry about a flu, but it's two degrees higher than normal." I sighed.

"It's that time of the month, momma." When I said that, I noticed Carlisle give me another observant look.

"Alright, as long as that's all it is. I've never seen you're periods get like this, honey."

"I know, momma. They stared getting this way when I started college, so I'm guessing the stress was making my periods worse."

"That could be it. It happens to women all the time." Momma looked at Alice. "I already texted Jacob to let him know Nessie's here."

"Good. One less thing to worry about. Are we cooking him dinner?"

"I say wait until he gets here before we start cooking anything. I'm sure he's on his way, but let's wait just to be safe."

"Momma, do you mind if I lay down?" Momma nodded.

"Of course, honey, feel free. Do you want your father to play the piano for you?" I smiled.

"That would be nice, actually." Within seconds, daddy was at my side and he led me with him to the music room, where there was a huge couch, and I tried to sleep while daddy played my lullaby for me. I was asleep in seconds.

This time when I woke up, I wasn't at the Cullen house anymore. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob in our bed with me, sound asleep himself. That's odd. I thought he had patrol tonight. In fact, I was positive he had patrol tonight. I turned so I could see the clock and almost swore out loud when the clock said 1:28 in the morning. I turned back so I was facing Jacob again and tried going back to sleep. I laid in bed for forty straight minutes, and I didn't even doze off.

I gave up on sleeping and got out of bed to take a shower. When the hot water was on full blast, I tried to relax. I was already starting to feel irrationally irritable and I knew that this turn of events was only destined to set me up for a worse mood for the day. When I was done with my shower, I realized I needed to change my tampon. I was about to, but I noticed that there was hardly any blood on the one I'd used. It was almost clean of blood except for a few brown spots. I knew it was blood, but it looked old. Not wanting to take a chance, I put in another and figured I was starting out light or something. It happened, so it wasn't something worth working myself to death over. When I walked out of the bathroom, I was met by Jacob's broad, bare chest.

"You're up early?"

"I know, I'm sorry. I tried going back to sleep, but I couldn't get it."

"It's alright, Nessie, you don't need to be sorry. I was just checking on you is all." I nodded.

"I know, Jac….." I was cut off mid sentence when a horrible, familiar, pressure came back to my throat and I ran back into the bathroom and my head was in the toilet in no time vomiting, with Jacob behind me holding my hair for me. I waited for the pressure to be gone before I lifted my head and leaned against Jacob's chest with tears in my eyes from the force of my getting sick.

"I'm starting to wonder if you might just be sick." I shook my head.

"I told you, Jacob, it's just my period. It'll be gone in a few more days, so try not to worry about it."

"Nessie, I can't not worry about it. I love you too much to not worry about it."

"I know, and I love you for that, but trust me, this is nothing to worry about. It's just a really bad case this month." Jacob looked like he was hesitant to believe me, but he eventually kissed my forehead and spoke.

"Alright, Nessie, you know better than me. Do you want to try going to sleep?"

"That would be nice." Jacob smiled and lifted me into his arms and took me back o bed, taking a spot right next to me when I was rested comfortably. "Good night, Jacob. I love you."

"I love you too, Nessie."

Jacob smiled at me and kissed my forehead before rested his head on my chest, still holding me in his arms. This time, when I tried to sleep, I was asleep in minutes and slept through the night until Jacob nudged me awake. When I woke up, Jacob was already dressed in jeans and a grey tank top and he bent down to kiss my neck when my eyes were open.

"We need to go to the shop, Nessie." I groaned and pushed myself out of bed. My back was killing me right now. That wasn't something that usually happened during my period. "You feeling okay, baby?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Period."

"Why don't you stay home today? You can start tomorrow." I shook my head.

"No, I'm coming. Just give me a minute." Jacob looked reluctant, but he didn't say anything further about it. I think he knew it would put me in a foul mood and he didn't want me to be mad at him all day.

"By the way, Nessie."

"Yeah?"

"Alice brought you an outfit for today."

"And?" Jacob smiled and shrugged.

"I like it."

"I suppose if you like it, that's good enough for me." I walked over to the closet and saw a pair of khaki pants and a light blue quarter sleeve shirt with a scoop neck. "It's really nice, actually."

"Nessie, it's Alice. I doubt she would get you anything bad."

"I know she wouldn't, but it still amazes me that she always knows the right things."

"That's Alice for you. So we'll leave as soon as you're dressed, okay."

"Alright, Jacob." Jacob smiled and left our bedroom to go downstairs to wait for me.

I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth thoroughly before getting dressed. I could still taste last night and it was even worse now than it was then. I brushed for a good minute before swishing some scope until all I could taste was mint. I washed my face really quickly and put on a little bit of makeup and managed to get dressed all in about five minutes. When I was done, I grabbed my purse and walked downstairs and saw Jacob sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for me. He heard me walk down the stairs and looked at me when I reached to bottom.

"You ready to go?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, I'm fine. Let's just get going, okay." Jacob smiled apologetically.

"Alright, Nessie. Do you want to come with me to get lunch on my break?"

"You own the place. You can come and go as you please." Jacob chuckled.

"I forgot about that." I giggled and walked over to him and wrapped my right arm around his waist while his left arm went around my shoulders while we walked out to the garage.

We were the first ones there, which is expected anyway considering it was six in the morning. When Jacob opened the shop, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a second key and handed it to me with a big grin on his face. Once the shop was unlocked, Jacob took my hand and led me through the small front space to an area that was closed off and pulled me in front of him before opening the door, revealing that it was an office.

"This is our office where all the records and finance and business related things will be kept. What do you think?" I smiled and turned to face Jacob and hugged him tightly.

"Congratulations, Jacob." He smiled and hugged me back.

"I hope this works out." I giggled.

"Jacob, the only other repair shop in Forks is grossly overpriced. Believe me, we'll do great. And with me handling the books and such, it'll work out perfectly." Jacob smiled and kissed my forehead.

"I know it will, Nessie." I grinned and reached up to give Jacob a sweet kiss, which he returned happily. The kiss became instantly passionate and we didn't stop until we heard the front door ring open and one of the guys that worked here walked in and waved high to me and Jacob.

The staff was all at the shop by seven and the shop was opened at seven thirty. They already had two cars they were working on, so it wasn't slow at all, which I was relieved about. At nine, someone came in with a flat tire that they needed changed. Another person came in later that day needing a new battery for their car. For most of the morning, I stayed in the back and worked on a few papers. When those were done, I didn't really have much else to do.

I stared looking through all the papers I'd just worked on to make sure they were right for lack of anything better to do. When that was done, I started feeling tired again and rested my head in my hands for a moment. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and it startled me awake until I saw that it was just Jacob, who was smiling.

"You got everything done already?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I checked it all twice to make sure they were right, but it's there."

"Wow. You're pretty much done for the day then." I giggled.

"Am I really? I haven't worked more than four hours."

"Five, actually." I groaned.

"I fell asleep again?"

"Nessie, I'm really worried and I know you say it's nothing, but could you please talk to Carlisle and have him look at you? Called me paranoid all you want, but this isn't like you, even if you are on your period." I sighed.

"Alright, fine. I'll talk to Carlisle to make you happy and come home just to tell you it's nothing." Jacob smiled.

"If it's really nothing, then I'll drop it. But until then, this could be you coming down with something and I don't want you to get any worse."

"I know, Jacob." I felt Jacob hug me from behind and I touched his arm and rested my head on his chest I had another headache.

"You can do that now since you're done." I rolled my eyes.

"Jacob, Carlisle's at work in Olympia right now."

"Then drive to Olympia and say you need to see Dr. Cullen. I'm sure he'll make time to see you." I sighed.

"I'll go after work."

"Nessie."

"Fine, Jacob, I'll go now. But that means you're stuck at the shop until I get back."

"Not a problem, baby." I groaned.

"Fine. I'll see you in a few hours."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Jacob and I kissed once before he let go of me so I could get out of the chair. Jacob handed me the keys to the car and kissed my nose before walking out to go back to the garage and get back to work.

I was sure there was nothing wrong, but I might as well let Carlisle tell me, then tell Jacob the same thing so he'll drop it. I fought the urge to rest my head on the steering wheel when I got into the car and drove off to Olympia, getting there in about forty minutes. It took me almost a half hour to finally find the hospital Carlisle was working at, but I managed to find it and was in too much of a hurry to find a parking spot and get in to car that I'd just cut someone off and they were now flipping me off for taking their spot.

When I got into the hospital, I went to the front desk and asked to see Dr. Carlisle Cullen. The receptionist; an older woman who was possibly attractive once but now she looks more like Farah Faucet after a few too many reconstructive surgeries, told me I needed an appointment. She was pretty reasonable with her tone, but it still angered me immensely. I fought to stay calm, especially since I knew that me getting as angry as I was getting was really stupid.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I can't give you a doctor this minute since you're not in critical condition. Besides, Dr. Cullen isn't in the ER right now." I sighed.

"Look, just page him or something and tell him his……tell him that Nessie wants him. He'll see me." The woman sighed.

"I'll call him, but I promise you he won't see you without an appointment."

"I'm a relative. He'll see me when I damn well tell him to." The woman looked appalled by my sudden attitude, but called Carlisle anyway so as to avoid a confrontation that she thought would ensue.

"Hello, Doctor? This is Janine at the front desk. There's a woman here saying that she needs to see you. She says her name is Nessie. Is this anyone you know?" She was silent a moment as she received an answer. "Alright, Doctor, I'll send her to your office right now." Then she hung up and looked at me. "He said he'd meet you in his office. It's the first floor to your left and keep going until you see a sign that has a list of names. Doctor Carlisle Cullen's name will be next to his office number."

"Thank you ma'am."

I took a left and followed the directions the woman told me about. When I saw the sign of doctor's names, I found Carlisle's name next to the number O113, then walked through the door and found his office near the middle of the space. I glanced in and saw Carlisle sitting at his desk, so I knocked on the door.

"Come in, Renesmee." I did as he said and walked in and took a seat across from his desk. "So what seems to be the problem, dear? Jacob called already and said he was concerned about you." I looked at Carlisle a moment. He sounded like he wasn't surprised to see me.

"You look like you already know what's wrong."

"I have an idea. And if I'm right, this isn't a problem at all. But I say we take the necessary tests before I tell you what I suspect." Then he stood from his chair and I stood with him. "Follow me and I'll show you to the examining room we'll be using."

"Alright." Carlisle smiled kindly at me and he walked ahead of me to the door of his office and I followed him to the examining room that he wanted us to go to. It was just like any other room with white ever It was just like any other room with white everywhere and really cold.

"Take a seat on the padded cot and I'll take a blood test."

"A blood test? What do I need a blood test for?"

"Don't worry, Nessie. As I said, I'm already pretty sure what's going on with you. A blood test is the best way to tell if I'm right. And while I'm doing this, I'm going to ask you a few questions, alright, dear?"

"Questions about what?" Carlisle proceeded while he got everything ready.

"Well, for starters, tell me about this chronic sleepiness that Jacob told me about. I've never seen you get this way during your periods. The irritability is nothing new, but tired and vomiting aren't usual for you. You haven't been that violently ill with your period since the first time you got it."

"Actually, this isn't out of the ordinary. My periods became weird when I started college. I assumed that the combination of stress and birth control pills were messing up my cycles."

"That's always a possibility. And you said you're having your period right now?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I am. It's really light this time for some reason, but it's happening."

"I see." Carlisle then walked over to me with the sterilized needle in his hand and an alcohol wipe in the other. "I won't take much blood, Nessie, but it will take a little more effort to get it through your skin. So please be calm." I sighed.

"Yes, Carlisle." With that said, Carlisle wiped a small spot on my arm and inserted the needle as gently as he possibly could and took a little blood.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes, okay. Sit tight until then, dear." Carlisle left with the blood sample, leaving me alone in the room waiting. I laid back on the cot and closed my eyes for just a minute. Obviously, I fell asleep again, because Carlisle was right there again nudging me awake.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"It's alright, Nessie. I have your test back and I was right." I gave him a weird look, ignoring the big smile he had.

"Right?"

"You're pregnant, Nessie." I was wide-eyed now.

"What? But I'm taking birth control. How did I get pregnant?"

"Birth control isn't 100% effective, Nessie. There's still that .001% that a woman on the pill will get pregnant."

"Well, how far along am I?"

"I'll run a few more tests to be sure, but right now, I'm guessing you're about twelve weeks or so."

While Carlisle did a few more tests, I tried doing the math in my head. Twelve weeks, roughly two and a half months, which means I would've had to have conceived in April. That had to be when it happened. I'd ran out of birth control and I didn't tell Jacob about it. I'd gotten more the next week, but Jacob and I'd only had sex three times in that whole weekend. I didn't think that was enough for me to get pregnant. Carlisle looked concerned.

"Nessie, you seem to be underwhelmed." I shook my head.

"No, I'm just trying to think." It wasn't that I was upset about this. I was thrilled. But Jacob and I hadn't talked about this. He wanted kids too, but he'd said that he wanted to wait a year after I graduated before we started thinking about having kids. Now that I know about the business, it makes sense as to why he would feel that way.

"Don't worry about medical expenses, Nessie. I'll be your doctor and I won't charge you and Jacob a thing." I smiled.

"Thanks grandpa." He chuckled at the choice of words.

"You're welcome, Nessie. Now once I have a little more information from your blood and the other tests, I'm going to give the name of some really good pre-natal vitamins and we'll have an appointment every month to check on the baby's progress." The more Carlisle was talking, I started to smile wider and wider.

"Thanks a lot, Carlisle."

"No need to thank me, honey."

"But how can I be pregnant? I'm having my period right now." Carlisle shook his head.

"You're spotting. That would explain why it's so light. Spotting usually happens when a woman's cervix experienced a small tear during sex. The bleeding is so minimal that it's nothing to be worried about and it will come out as brown spots. This isn't a big problem right now, but if it keeps up into the later months, then I'll need to see if there might be something wrong with you or the baby."

"So I shouldn't be wearing tampons?" Carlisle chuckled.

"In your condition, I wouldn't recommend it, no." I smiled and Carlisle went back to work.

By the time I left, I was giddy. I felt like I was walking on a cloud. I was eleven weeks along, which meant I had gotten pregnant in April and I would be due in December. I decided I wanted to wait until our anniversary to tell Jacob. It was definitely a present he would like. I only hoped that he wouldn't be nervous about the timing.

Carlisle wasn't all that surprised that my pregnancy seemed to be going at a normal human pace. If anything, the baby would be a month or so early, and there was nothing odd about that. It happened all the time. When I reached the car, I looked at the time. 3:30. Jacob would still be at the shop. I couldn't help myself, so with a big smile, I drove to the mall in Olympia and went straight to their Babies 'R' Us to look around. It was too soon to know the gender of the baby, but I wanted to look around anyway.

If anything, the baby would be a month or so early, and there was nothing odd about that. It happened all the time. When I reached the car, I looked at the time. 3:30. Jacob would still be at the shop. I couldn't help myself, so with a big smile, I drove to the mall in Olympia and went straight to their Babies 'R' Us to look around. It was too soon to know the gender of the baby, but I wanted to look around anyway.

I actually couldn't wait to tell Alice. She would have a field day with buying onesies and footy pajamas and little baby toys and things. I wouldn't have to do a thing. She'd have all the baby supplies for me that I would need in one day. I was already thinking about what to do with the room closest to mine and Jacob's room. I'd never thought of yellow as a gender neutral color. Yellow seemed like a really feminine color. But I didn't want to go so bold as to paint the room either purple or blue. I wasn't positive if Carlisle would be able to see the baby with the ultrasound or not, so I was a little concerned about that.

As far as why it was hurting me so much when Jacob and I had sex, Carlisle assumed that the cut on my cervix wasn't as benign as it should, so he suggested that Jacob and I hold off on the sex for a while. I wasn't sure how well that idea sat with me. Knowing about the baby just made me want us to have sex even more. I was in the best mood of my life and it was only getting better the more I walked around the baby store. I finally left when I'd searched the store high and low twice and when I got in the car, I realized that I'd left my purse in the car. I opened my phone and as I thought, Jacob had called. I tried to keep the grin out of my voice when I called Jacob back.

"_Nessie? Where are you?"_

"I just came out of Carlisle's office."

"_Well, what's the matter? Did he say anything?"_

"He said the same thing I did. It was nothing."

"_You spent six hours at his office for him to tell you there wasn't nothing wrong?"_ I nodded, still smiling but making my voice monotone.

"Pretty much, Jacob. It's just my period acting up, nothing to be alarmed about. I'll feel better soon, okay." Jacob sighed and sounded extremely skeptical.

"_Alright, fine. If Carlisle says it's nothing, then fine, it's nothing. So are you coming back to the shop now?"_

"Yeah. I'm on my way. I love you, Jacob."

"_I love you too."_ Once Jacob hung up the phone, I turned on the radio and sang along even to the songs I hated.

With traffic the way it was, it took me a good hour to get back to Forks. And when I arrived back at the shop, I fought the smile that played across my lips and walked into the shop looking like nothing special had happened and it was a normal day. Jacob was out in the garage working with the others, so I went to the office and the cashier, Steven I found out his name was, waved hello to me and I waved back with a sincere smile.

When I got into the office, I walked over to the computer and started doing more research about what to expect. There were a few new sets of paperwork on my desk that I needed to work on, but I could get that done later. I didn't need to look up baby names. I already knew the baby would be named either Kevin or Natalie, so there was no question there. I was just looking up when I would start showing. Evidently, according to half the pictures and opinions I found, I should be showing already. I still had until next Monday before our anniversary, so maybe I'd be showing a little by then.

"Mrs. Black?" I looked up and saw Steven walk in.

"Yes, Steven?"

"We just had this delivered to us." Steven showed me the large package he was holding.

"Thank you, Steven. Go get Jacob, would you?" He nodded.

"Sure thing." He walked out and left me in the office with the package. It reached up to the top of my desk and when I opened it, I pulled out a huge cylinder.

"Oh, good, that arrived. We needed it for Mr. Colin's car."

"Oh. Good." Hurriedly, I closed the link I'd been looking at so Jacob wouldn't see it and stood up with the cylinder. "There was something else in the box too." Jacob nodded.

"There should be. There was a pipe in his car that was broken, so I needed to order a new one to repair it."

"So will you finish his car today?"

"Yeah, I will. When that's done, I'll tell Steven to call him and tell him to come get his car." Jacob was talking to me, but he looked miles away. "So Carlisle really said it was nothing?" I nodded.

"Nothing at all." Jacob stared at me a moment and I sighed. "Jacob, you promised you would drop it."

"I'm…..hesitant."

"What's there to be hesitant about?"

"Nessie, I'm just worried okay? Is it so horrible that I'm worried?"

"It's not horrible that you're worried. I'm thrilled that you care enough to worry, but trust me, you don't need to." Jacob gave me a weird look this time.

"What are you so happy about? This morning, you were all irritable, now you look like you're on cloud nine." I hadn't noticed I was smiling and there was a smile in my voice. I just blew it off as nothing.

"It's the mood swings, Jacob. Don't complain about a good thing, Jacob. If I'm this happy, enjoy the time." Jacob sighed and walked over to me and was about to take me into his arms, but then we heard something crash in the garage. Jacob and I ran out of the office and into the garage and saw a car fall into the pit. Thankfully, there was no one in the pit, so no one got hurt.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay. We got the girl out of the car okay."

"What happened?"

"She didn't drive onto the ramp properly so she accidently drove into the pit." Jacob groaned.

"Alright. Get something that'll pull this out of the pit." Then Jacob turned to me. "Nessie, there's a Jack in the office. Could you get that?" I nodded and ran to the office and grabbed the Jack and brought it to Jacob. Once he had it, he got to work with the others to get the car out of the pit.

I couldn't help but think the situation overall was kind of funny seeing as no one got hurt. I didn't laugh, though. Now wasn't the time to tell Jacob I thought this was funny. I could tell this had made him really mad. I left the garage when Jacob asked me to and took care of the box we'd received.

I didn't want to bother Jacob, so I stayed in the office for the rest of the day getting paperwork done and filling out order sheets. While I was working, I would turn my attention back to my previous research about what to expect and what things I should stay away from. I already didn't eat human food, so I wasn't concerned about that. When it was the end of the day, Jacob came into the office and I closed the internet before he could see it.

"Aside from the girl driving into the pit, how did today go?"

"Great. I think we might have a shot of this shop surviving."

"I already told you it would." Jacob chuckled and walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"You're always right, baby." I giggled.

"I know." Jacob smiled and hugged me tighter. "So do you want to go home now?" Jacob nodded.

"That would be nice."

"And what would you like for dinner?"

"Whatever red meat we have in the house."

I smiled and Jacob and I walked out to the car hand in hand and when we got home, I made him plenty of the red meat he wanted. Sadly, because he didn't go on patrol last night, he had to go tonight. I think Jacob thought it was a little strange that I was cuddling to him the way I was considering I'd been in such a bad mood the past few days, but he didn't say a thing about it.

As the week went on, I kept looking forward to our anniversary. I wanted so badly to tell Jacob that I was pregnant, but I wanted the moment to be really special. Jacob noticed how clingy I was being, but he didn't say a thing for a while. On the Sunday before our anniversary, though, I watched Jacob eat his dinner with a look of affection on my face, which Jacob noticed. Instead of saying nothing, he put down his fork and looked at me with a puzzled face.

"Is there something on my face?" I giggled and shook my head.

"Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"Because you've been staring at me the whole time I've been eating and haven't said a word. Is there something you want to tell me, Nessie? I get the feeling you're keeping something from me."

"Now, don't be silly, Jacob. Eat your dinner, you have patrol tonight. Then tomorrow, I have you all to myself." Jacob smiled.

"Yeah. I have a fun day planned."

"I can't wait."

After he was done with dinner, we shared a kiss and he was off on patrol. I went to bed that looking forward to the next day. Tomorrow, I would finally tell Jacob I was pregnant. Everyone else already knew thanks to Carlisle and daddy. Alice being Alice, was already picking out a whole bunch of baby clothes for me. Since we weren't sure what the gender was, she was careful not to buy anything pink, purple, yellow, anything feminine. I figured green was a safe color to go with at this point.

The next morning, I woke up in Jacob's arms and looked at the clock to see that it was eleven in the morning. Jacob had already told me that we were taking the day to just be together, so I wasn't horrified like I normally would be. I turned in Jacob's arms to look at him and he was already awake and smiling at me.

"Morning, Nessie." I smiled back.

"Morning, Jacob. How was patrol?"

"Same as always. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Did you sleep well?"

"I did, thank you for asking." Jacob chuckled. "So what did you have planned for today?"

"I was thinking we could go cliff diving." I stiffened a little when he said that. I wasn't an expert, but cliff diving while pregnant certainly wasn't a good idea. Jacob noticed me stiffen and looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Why don't we just hang out at the beach."

"I thought you would like cliff diving."

"I'm sure I would. But you and I need to talk about something important and I don't think we could talk about it while jumping off a cliff." Jacob was silent a moment, then shrugged.

"Why don't we talk about it now?" I shook my head.

"I'd rather tell you at the beach. At that white log in fact." Jacob looked a little confused, but he didn't argue.

"Alright, if you want. But can I give you your present here?" I smiled and nodded.

"Of course." Jacob grinned and turned to his nightstand and opened the drawer to pull out a little black box.

"Alright. Open it." I smiled wider and took the box from him and opened it to see a single karat diamond in a heart shape on a silver chain. "Do you like it?"

"Jacob, it's beautiful." I reached around and hugged Jacob around the neck. "Thank you so much." Jacob hugged me back and kissed my neck.

"We can continue this on the beach. Let's get into our suits and get going."

"Good idea." Jacob and I got out of bed and went to the closet together to get dressed. We smiled at each other most of the time, but that was about it.

While I was changing, I suddenly noticed what I was waiting for. It was far from plain to see. Even I wouldn't notice it at first glance. But it was there. An itty bitty little bump that showed it wouldn't be long before it would be easy for me to tell. It looked more like a pooch that girls sometimes had as opposed to an actual baby bump, so now I felt fat. But I kept that to myself. I dressed quickly to hide it from Jacob. He would see it when we got to the beach. When we were both in our bathing suits, me with a pair of shorts over my bottoms, Jacob took my hand in his and we started walking to the beach.

There were a lot of people when we got there. Some were tourists that came here from Seattle while others were locals enjoying first beach. Even if it was summer, I'd been hoping Jacob and I would have a little more privacy on the beach. All that was left was the white log we were heading for anyway. Thankfully, no one was there when we arrived. There were a few kids in the distance, but nothing that would bother me. While we were walking, I put my hand over the diamond that Jacob had given me to calm down. I was beginning to get really nervous. What if Jacob didn't want the baby now? He'd said he wanted to wait a while before we started, so would he think it was too soon? While I was thinking, Jacob took a seat on the log and held my hands while he looked at me.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Jacob sat on the log waiting in anticipation while I tried to calm my racing heart. Now was as good a time as ever.

"Well, Jacob. You remember when I went to see Carlisle the other day?" Now he looked really nervous.

"I thought you said nothing was wrong." I shook my head.

"Nothing's wrong. But there was a reason for everything, the vomiting, the cramping, the irritability, all that." Jacob gave me a weird look.

"I thought it was your period." I smiled and shook my head.

"No, it's not that either. It was something else."

"So you're telling me all these things were happening, but there's nothing wrong with you."

"Nothing's wrong with me. I'm fine. Better than fine, really. And I know you said you wanted to wait a little longer, but I think this will make you happy too."

"How is your being in a lot of pain supposed to make me happy?" I knew Jacob was starting to lose his patience, so I unbuttoned my blue jean shorts, pulled them off, then grabbed Jacob's hand and put it where the ever so small, barely noticeable bump was. When he felt that, everything clicked in his head and his eyes stared wide at me with his mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Jacob, we're having a baby." He looked so stunned. But he didn't look at me for long. He turned his attention to the bump his hand was on. Then he brought his other hand to that bump and started feeling it, as if he couldn't believe that this was really true.

"You're pregnant?" I nodded. "When did this happen? I thought you were on the pill."

"I got pregnant in April, so I'm twelve weeks in. I ran out of birth control pills and I forgot all about it. When I realized we'd made love without it, I contacted Carlisle for a refill and didn't think we had anything to worry about since we'd only been together three times that weekend."

"You found out when you saw Carlisle?" I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I wanted to tell you now. And I was scared you wouldn't want to have a baby yet." Jacob shook his head and rested it against me to listen.

"That was before I knew we were already having one. I'm just relieved you didn't get sick while we were having sex because you were repulsed by me." I giggled and hugged Jacob tightly.

"I could never be repulsed by you, Jacob"

"But you said you were bleeding."

"I was spotting. It's when…"

"Nessie, please spare me those details." I giggled.

"Alright, I won't say anything." Jacob smiled and kissed the bump.

"So when do you think the little guy will come out?"

"The baby should come around December." Jacob smiled.

"Same month as me. I just hope the baby looks like you."

"I'd rather the baby looked like you, Jacob." Jacob chuckled.

"You're nuts, Renesmee." I smiled and kissed Jacob's forehead.

"So are we still naming the baby Kevin or Natalie?" Jacob nodded.

"Unless you want to name the baby something else, I like those names."

"Good. I do too." With his head still over the bump, he wrapped his arms around me and started kissing it tenderly. Then Jacob gently pulled me down onto his lap and we hugged tightly.

"I assume I'm the only one who didn't know?"

"My family knew. As far as the pack knowing, I'm not sure. I suppose I'll have a bump on Seth and Alyssa's wedding. I'll need to get a different dress."

"It's not going to grow that fast is it?" I nodded.

"It will. It'll be huge before I know it. Right now, it's small, but watch, by next week, even baggy clothes won't be able to hide my baby bump." Jacob chuckled.

"You don't have to hide a baby bump. That's something to be proud of."

"I never said I wasn't proud of it. I just don't want to wear something tight and feel fat."

"You could never look fat, Nessie. You'll be just as beautiful pregnant as you are right now." I giggled.

"You exaggerate Jacob." He shook his head.

"Not at all. And feel free to demand I rub your feet or whatever else you'll need."

"Can I get that in writing, Jacob?" He smiled and kissed me really quick.

"Where should I write it?" Jacob and I started laughing together and I brought my head up so I was facing him. When we looked at each other, Jacob brought his lips to mine and kissed me lovingly.

Pulling me with him, Jacob fell backwards into the sand and gravel with his legs still resting on the log and me still in his lap as before. Jacob's hands went straight to the tie of my bikini top and pulled on the strings to loosen the tie. His hands came forward and replaced the cups of my top and played with my breasts. I took my lips away and he kept kissing my neck.

"Jacob." He mumbled in acknowledgment and kept up what he was doing. "I'm not sure we should do this here. There're kids in the water near us." Jacob stopped and kept me near his chest and lifted himself up with his other hand to look.

"No there aren't." I turned my head to look and I couldn't see the kids that had been there before.

"Well, even so, Jacob, what if someone sees us?"

"Nothing happened the last time we had sex here. I promise we'll stay behind the log so no one will see us." I sighed and took another look around, just to be sure. Then I looked back at him and he looked pleading.

"You promise?" He nodded.

"I swear it." I finally smiled and leaned down to kiss him.

"Alright, Jacob. If you swear." He chuckled a little and brought his lips up to meet mine and we picked up right where we left off.

We stayed concealed behind the log, though I would occasionally check, just to be sure that we were completely alone. Last time we'd done this, I was terrified that we'd get caught and wasn't as into it as I would've liked. I tried to make sure that wasn't so much the case this time, but there was only so much I could do under the circumstances and did my best to make sure that Jacob didn't notice that the openness was bugging me a little.

For the most part, I stayed on Jacob's lap as we kissed passionately and he touched me anywhere and everywhere he could. When we were both undressed, Jacob Moved me a little so I was straddling him and entered me in one stroke. It made me feel wonderful and whole as he made love to me. But a few strokes in, something happened. The sharp pain that I'd experienced before was happening again and it was worse than the first time it'd happened. The first hit of that pain was far more than I could take.

"Jacob, stop!" He immediately stopped and looked at me concerned, but even when he stopped, the pain was still there.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I think something's happening. I can't take the pain." I was sobbing by now and when I mentioned that I was in pain, Jacob took me away from him and was immediately scared.

"What's happening, Nessie?" But as soon as Jacob left me, the pain was gone. That was so strange. I remembered Carlisle saying it could be a bad cut to my cervix causing this, but it seemed too unlikely. If it were the case, I'd feel this pain immediately and I wouldn't feel in my lower abdomen as opposed to in between my legs.

"It stopped."

"What did?"

"The pain I was feeling. It stopped."

"Why didn't you tell me I was hurting you sooner?"

"Because you weren't. I told you to stop as soon as I started hurting."

"Well, do you know what's causing it?" I shook my head.

"Carlisle thinks it might be a small cut on my cervix, but that doesn't sound right. It would've hurt as soon as we started if that were the case."

"Then what's making it hurt this bad?"

"I don't know." There was a silence between me and Jacob for a moment that was odd and uncomfortable. "Maybe we shouldn't have sex for a while." Jacob nodded.

"Not as long as it hurts for you. Maybe you should talk to Carlisle again and see if he can find something else that might be wrong. I mean, if we ignore it, it'll only get worse."

"I know. I'll talk to Carlisle as soon as he gets back to the house from the hospital today." Jacob smiled a little and hugged me.

"You don't think you could develop an allergic reaction to me or something do you?" I knew that wasn't it, though I knew where Jacob was coming from too. One time, my roommate was watching this weird show about strange sex diseases and one woman was allergic to proteins in her husband's semen. Jacob was trying not to watch the show and listen to me, but when that segment came one, he couldn't help but pay attention because he thought it was so weird.

"It's not that, Jacob. If that were the case, we'd know by now." Jacob sighed.

"I just thought I'd post it as a possibility, as painful as that one is."

"It's not that, Jacob, so don't worry. It's probably my fault. Although, Carlisle might just send me to my gynecologist."

"Why don't you just make an appointment with her, then?" I sighed.

"I probably should. It's going to be weird enough when Carlisle has to help me deliver the baby. No need to make it more awkward for both of us by making him search around for something down there that might be wrong." Despite his worry, Jacob managed to laugh a little.

"Yeah. But why didn't you tell me about the cervix thing? If I'd have known, I wouldn't have started anything."

"I know you wouldn't have. But I just figured it would be okay. And we hadn't slept together since the last time when I got really sick and that was two weeks ago. I assumed it wouldn't be so bad by now. Obviously I was wrong."

"Let's go home and see when's the earliest you can see the gynecologist."

"Alright. But I will need to tell Carlisle. That way, he and my gynecologist can trade information."

"I'm not opposed."

"I know you're not."

Though it was reluctantly, Jacob and I walked together hand in hand back to our house and I scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist for the next day. It was really early, but as far as I was concerned, the sooner I could figure out what was wrong with me, the better. Jacob and I still spent that day together for our anniversary; we just didn't do what we both really wanted to do to celebrate another year of marriage. Neither of us complained about it, but I knew that we were both thinking it.

I encouraged Jacob to go on patrol tonight. I knew there would be no better way to spread the news of my pregnancy than to have about thirteen wolves reading his mind and then spread the news to their friends and family. When it was time for Jacob to go on patrol, he and I kissed and he promised he'd be home before I left for the doctors tomorrow.

**JPOV**

I waited until I got into the woods before I shifted into my wolf. I wasn't supposed to be on patrol tonight. Leah and Seth would be on patrol tonight along with six others. We tried to keep the rotation fair, but sometimes others had to take a night off for whatever reason so another member of the pack would fill in for them. I suppose it could be considered a plus to having such a large pack. It was the largest of any pack our village had. We were up to eighteen wolves, the youngest being sixteen now. I was relieved at least that they weren't really young anymore. A while back when we'd encountered the Volturi the first time, the youngest member had been thirteen. Now he was twenty one and working at the shop for me after finishing at a community college near here.

When I was deep enough in the woods, I took off my sweats and tied them around my ankle and felt my body shake as I changed. Once I was a wolf, the voices began to flood my head. The only ones I listened to were Seth's and Leah's since they were the ones that were technically in charge when I wasn't there.

"_Jacob? What are you doing here? I thought you were taking the night off?"_ I mentally shook my head at Leah.

"_I was supposed to."_ Everyone heard what I told them by listening to the event reoccur in my head and some didn't want to hear anymore and turned human so they wouldn't have to while others kept their mouths shut and let me talk to Seth and Leah.

"_Well, hey, look on the bright side Jacob. You're having a baby! That's great!"_

"_It is, but I can't help but worry, Seth. What if I did something to her?"_ Leah sighed and took a moment to explain.

"_Jacob, she's half vampire. I doubt very seriously that she would be able to suffer the same injuries that normal women would. And honestly, I don't think this is something wrong with her cervix. And it's not a yeast infection, that much is certain. I've had one of those and they suck"_

"_Did we need to know that sis?"_

"_Seth, you're about to get married. You better get used to hearing a lot worse things than a yeast infection."_

"_Yeah, but that's different Leah. She's my bride to be, you're my sister. I have two completely different mindsets about you two. I love you both; I'm just more willing to listen to Alyssa's problems feminine health wise than I am with you. As long as it's not fatal, I don't need to hear about it."_ Then another thought popped into Seth's head that surprised me. _"Speaking of pregnant, Paul told me Rachael's pregnant. She found out this morning."_

"_Wow, that's cool. I guess they finally decided to have kids."_

"_It looks like it. Your son will have a cousin that's the same age as him, so that should be cool. Two months give or take isn't so bad of an age difference. Especially once they get older."_ All this talk about babies put Leah in a sour mood. She wanted kids, she just knew how long it would be and what she would have to do to finally have them. Since she didn't like the topic, she changed it to her new favorite topic of all. Hailey.

"_So guess what Hailey did today, Jacob."_

"_You tell me."_

"_I was at his house playing with him and his mother called him for lunch and he refused to eat unless I fed him. I do believe Hailey likes me more than Mrs. Stanley."_ Leah thought this with a proud smile and Seth laughed.

"_I hate to say you're finding a little too much pleasure in that. What if he ends up thinking of you as his mom?"_

"_Claire doesn't feel that way about Quil. How old is that girl now, thirteen?"_

"_She's eleven."_ Leah smiled.

"_My bad. He better keep an eye out for Aunt Flow. That's around the time mine visited for the first time."_ Normally, I wouldn't know what the hell she was talking about, but since she had the mental picture of her first period engrained in her mind, I got it and didn't want to talk about it at all. Neither did Seth.

"_Come on, sis, we don't need to hear such things."_

"_Don't get mad at me, it's true. I got my first period when I was twelve, Emily got it when she was nine, the poor girl's doomed for an early start to womanhood."_

"_Still, we don't need to hear that, Leah. So how has patrol gone since you guys all started?"_

"_Nothing's new. I'm starting to miss vampires coming and going. It was more exciting then."_ Leah rolled her eyes at Seth.

_That's the worst thing to wish for in the world. Watch, now that you've wished for it, a bunch of nomad vampires will show up and try to kill the Cullens so they can take over the world or some shit."_

"_We already killed Vladimir and Stefan." _Leah and I both laughed at Seth's statement.

"_Yeah, but that's only two out of millions of malicious vampires."_

"_Stop having such a bleak outlook, Leah. Start thinking about Hailey again. That always puts you in a good mood."_ Leah mentally smiled, not even giving Seth the satisfaction of teasing him. All she did was think of all the cute two year old things that Hailey liked to do. She was especially thrilled that he would soon be turning three.

When I came back home that night, Nessie was up and getting ready for her appointment. The only appointment she could get for today was really early in the morning, so she would need to leave early to make the appointment. I changed back and put back on my sweatpants and jumped to the balcony, something I'd become really good at doing, and came in through the French doors into our room. Nessie looked up and smiled when she saw me.

"How was patrol tonight?"

"Same old, same old. It turns out that Rachael's pregnant too. She found out today." Nessie beamed.

"That's great. I can be pregnant with someone." I smiled and nodded.

"That could definitely be something you and her bond over. So what time is your appointment?"

"Seven."

"How long do you think it'll take?" Nessie shrugged.

"Who knows. I can't imagine it would take too long if I exclude the ungodly amount of time they're going to make me sit in the waiting room just to spite me for coming in so early." I chuckled and walked over to hug her. She hugged me back and rested her head against my chest. "You don't think something wrong with the baby do you?"

"No, not our baby. I'm sure it's happy and healthy inside you." She smiled and kissed my chest.

"I hope so."

"It is, Nessie." Nessie sighed.

"I can't wait until we know the gender. I hate referring to the baby as 'it'."

"I know. But there's nothing else to call the baby right now. We don't know the gender, so it would be sort of bold of us to say him or she."

"I know. I hope the amniotic sac won't be a problem."

"I don't think it will. This baby has enough human that I think the pregnancy should be really normal. The way your pregnancy is progressing alone is evidence of that."

"I guess that's true." Then Nessie reached up and gave me a kiss before letting go of me. "I better get going if I'm going to make that appointment."

"Yeah. Call me as soon as you know more, okay." Nessie nodded.

"I will. I'll come to the shop as soon as I'm done."

"No, don't worry about it. You can work tomorrow." Nessie sighed.

"I've been a pretty deadbeat partner haven't I?"

"Not at all, Nessie. Our baby before work." Nessie smiled.

"I think that's the best thing a father could ever say." Nessie's comment gave me a huge notch of pride and I smiled.

"You really think I'll be a good father?"

"You'll be an excellent father." I smiled a little wider.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Alright, Jacob. I love you."

"I love you too." Nessie hugged me once more before she left to go to her appointment. When her car was gone, I went to mine and made my way to the shop. If I didn't hurry, I would be late.

**NPOV**

It took me about a half hour to get to the doctor's office. And when I checked in, it took the doctor ten minutes to finally call me in, then another ten minutes for a nurse to come in and ask me some questions. I told her what the problem was and she said the doctor would be with me in a moment. I was a little nervous. I was using a different gynecologist this time. The one I'd had before had moved or something. I'd never met this gynecologist before. All I knew was that it was another woman. I just hoped she would be gentler than the other woman had been. When she finally came in, she smiled and I smiled back.

"Mrs. Renesmee Black?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Good. So the nurse told me that you're experiencing pain while having intercourse?" I nodded. "Well, I got a call from your other doctor and he told me he thought it was just a small cut on your cervix."

"I thought that was it too since I was spotting, but the pain happens later as opposed to being immediate." She looked thoughtful.

"Really? Well that's different. You're also pregnant correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's see if there's anything wrong then. Have you had an ultrasound yet?" I shook my head.

"No, not yet. I only recently found out I was pregnant. Dr. Cullen said I was about twelve weeks along."

"That's good news. I'll take an ultrasound of the baby and see if there's anything there that we need to worry about. If we don't see anything there, I'll take a direct look."

"Sounds good."

"I'll go get the ultrasound machine. I'll be back in a moment. In the meantime, could you put on a gown?"

"Sure thing."

She walked out of the room after pointing out the gown and I got undressed as soon as I was alone and put my clothes where the gown used to be. Then I waited about five minutes for the doctor to come back and set up the machine. Once it was up, I laid back and let her do what she needed to do. She lifted up my gown and poured some warm gel on my bump, then placed the monitor on the gelled area and started moving it around until she had it spread the way she needed. Then I heard the fast little heartbeat and my own heart soared.


	32. Bronze And Green Part 2

**Bronze And Green Part 2**

"Well, the baby's certainly healthy with a little heartbeat like that. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong."

"That's good news."

"Indeed. You're probably feeling pain because of a small cut. It happens all the time." She removed the monitor and wiped off the gel. "I'll take a look and see what I can find."

"Thank you."

Once the gel was off, she put on a new set of gloves and took out the sterilized instruments she needed to check me out. She wasn't particularly gentle, but I suppose there's only so gentle someone can be when they're trying to stretch out my vagina with a thing that I didn't know what it was. While she looked around, she asked me a few simple questions, like was I off the pill now, do my husband or I smoke and so on. After a while, she came back up and I looked at her expectantly.

"So is there a cut?" She shook her head.

"No. You're pretty scratch free. And I notice that you're skin down there is really tough. It's nothing I've seen before, anyway. I can't imagine a knife cutting that skin." I tried to not look like that statement worried me.

"So if there's no cut or anything, than what's causing the pain?"

"I don't know. You don't have a cut, you don't have a yeast infection, you don't have an STD, you don't have a sperm allergy, and there's nothing odd going on in your uterus. Your cervix could just be really sensitive because of the pregnancy. I'm assuming you didn't start feeling any pain until you got pregnant." I nodded.

"So I'm just sensitive because of the baby?"

"That's what it looks like, yeah. I can't find anything else that would cause it." I sighed.

"Well that's aggravating."

"I know. I'm sorry about that."

When I was done with the doctor, she gave me a card so I would have her number just in case and I went out to the front to pay. While I was walking out of the clinic, I felt my phone start to vibrate. I figured it was Jacob, so I took it out of my purse and answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Nessie, its Aida. How've you been?"_

"Oh, Aida. Hey. I'm doing pretty good. I'm pregnant." Aida didn't say anything at first. I think she was trying to think of whether she should snort at the idea or smile.

"_Well that's…….great I suppose."_

"You could say congratulations, Aida."

"_Nessie, I hate children. As far as I'm concerned, all children should stay in a closet until they're twenty one and can drink and be entertaining."_

"Aida, that's awful."

"_What's your point?"_ I sighed.

"Forget it. How're you and Zeppelin doing?"

"_We're doing great. My parents found out about us, so they cut me off from my college funds. But who the fuck cares? Zeppelin's helping me out now."_

"That's nice of him. Does he expect you to pay him back?"

"_Yeah, but he promised not to be a hard ass about it. I have a job right now, but it's not enough for me to pay for school. It is, however, enough for me to pay for all the stuff I need. All he needs to pay is the tuition. And since it's a community college, the tuition isn't too bad."_

"That's good news."

"_Yep. And I got a new tattoo."_

"Fun. What is it?"

"_It's a line of ladybugs over my right tit."_ I smiled a little.

"Interesting placement choice."

"_I'm hot. I can get away with it. So when are you and I hanging out? It's been forever."_

"I know. It really has. If you're free Saturday, we would do something then."

"_Sure thing. I don't work on Saturdays. So how big is the baby lump?"_

"Not very big. It's barely noticeable unless you look really closely. But it'll probably be bigger when you see me. By the way, how's Hailey doing? I haven't had a chance to talk to Leah recently."

"_He's fine as far as I know. He's a rotten little bugger, but if Leah loves him, whatever."_

"Oh come on, Aida, you love your little brother and you know it."

"_He's my half brother for starters. And secondly, I'll like him better when he's older. I'm sure he'll be a kick ass teen, but for now, he's a pooping his pants toddler and me no likey."_ I giggled while I unlocked my car and climbed in.

"You haven't tried to trade him for a puppy, have you?"

"_Sadly, babies aren't good currency for a King Charles Spaniel."_

"Aw, those are cute dogs."

"_Fuck yeah they're cute dogs. One of these days, I'll have one. But for now, it's our cats and my hedgehogs. They're so cute. I swear, Zim is malicious and I love it."_

"Only you would love an evil pet, Aida." Aida laughed while I started up my car and started driving out of the parking lot to the street. Once on the road, I went the necessary direction to go to my parent's house.

"_You're damn straight. If only Gir was adorably stupid, then it would be perfect."_

"Who's the other one again?"

"_It's Zim, Gir, and Foamy. They're the best Hedgehogs."_

"I bet they are."

"_So are you working yet, miss college graduate?"_

"Yeah. Jacob bought a shop a few months ago and we're co-owners. I'm the manager/accountant."

"_Sounds delightful."_ I laughed a little at Aida's sarcastic tone.

"I haven't had much of a chance to work actually. I keep getting sick."

"_You see Nessie, that's why babies suck. They make you sick."_

"It won't last long, Aida. It's just the first few months of my body getting used to accommodating another person." Aida sighed.

"_Well, as long as you're happy, then congratulations on the pregnancy."_

"Thank you, Aida. That was more the reaction I was searching for on a first take." Aida laughed marginally.

"_I aim to please."_ I smiled at her sarcasm.

"I know, Aida. So what did you want to do on Saturday?"

"_Anything's fine. We could always go to the park and throw acorns at bystanders."_ I wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but I laughed lightly anyway.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"_I never said it was a good idea. I just said it was an idea."_ I sighed.

"Do you ever listen to yourself when you talk, Aida?"

"_Most of the time I do."_ I laughed and shook my head.

"You're one of a kind, Aida."

"_Fuck yeah."_

"I forgot how much you swear. It really has been a long time."

"_I figured you'd be used to my vulgar mouth by now."_

"I am used to it. That's the problem." Aida laughed.

"_So where are you off to now?"_

"I just left the gynecologist's office. I'm on my way to my parent's house. I know Carlisle's at work, but I could always wait for him to get back."

"_Why, what's the matter with you?"_

"I don't know. The gynecologist says there's nothing wrong, but when Jacob and I try to…..do it…it hurts me."

"_Wow. That's the shit end of the stick."_

"The gynecologist thinks the pregnancy might have just made me sensitive, but even that doesn't sound right."

"_I'm not a doctor, Nessie, so I wouldn't know. But what would Carlisle be able to find that the gynecologist you went to couldn't?"_

"I don't know. I probably am just more sensitive right now. I just don't like it."

"_I don't blame you. That's a seven month long dry spell you two are looking at if the pregnancy's what's making it hurt."_ I groaned.

"I know. And I feel horrible about it."

"_Now, Ness, you shouldn't feel horrible about it. It's both your faults, so you share the blame. He wanted kids too, didn't he?"_

"Yeah, he does. But he said he wanted to wait a year. I didn't know why he would want to at first, but when I found out about the shop, it made sense why he would want to wait."

"_So is this a .001% baby?"_ I shook my head.

"No, it's a, 'Nessie didn't think one weekend off the pill would pose a problem', baby." I could see the face that Aida was making at me in my head.

"_You know, Nessie, you don't do many things that qualify as stupid, but that's pretty fucking stupid. Why didn't you guys use those condoms I so generously got you?"_

"I forgot I hadn't taken my pills. I didn't remember until the Monday after he went back home."

"_Oh come on, Nessie."_

"Aida, it's not like we can't take care of the baby. I got pregnant in April, so it's no big deal."

"_Did I mention how stupid that was?"_

"Oh shush, Aida. Jacob and I are married. If I decide I want to get pregnant, than I will."

"_I thought the pregnancy wasn't planned."_

"It wasn't. I'm just saying." Aida sighed.

"_So do you know if it's a boy or girl?"_

"No, not yet. It's too soon to tell. Carlisle will give me another ultrasound when I'm about four months in. He should be able to tell by then."

"_What do you think it is?"_ I shrugged.

"I don't know. The bump isn't even big enough yet for me to make a wild guess based on wives tales."

"_What are those wives tales?"_

"Well, there's one where you hold a pendant over your hand on a string and if it swings, it's a boy, if it spins, it's a girl. I think that's how that one goes. Then there's another where if the bump is pointing more upward, it's a boy, more downward is a girl. Another says that if I don't look good pregnant, it's a girl because the girl is taking my beauty or something and if I'm more beautiful pregnant, it's a boy. Those are the only ones I know."

"_I don't know any others. Which would you rather have?"_

"I'd be happy with either. I can't chose which I would rather have."

"_They always say that."_ I smiled.

"That's how we mothers think."

"_I know all too well."_

Shortly after, I reached the house and said goodbye to Aida and told her I would talk to her later. Carlisle's car wasn't in the garage as I figured, so I would have to wait a few hours before he came back. When I got into the house, Rosalie was the first one by my side in concern. She only heard that I wasn't feeling well and went to the gynecologist to see if there was something wrong with the baby. She was relieved to hear that the baby was perfectly healthy so far. With her worries calmed, Rosalie took me to the couch where she, Esme, Alice, and momma were sitting not paying attention to what was on TV. I sat next to momma and she was looking at me oddly.

"What's wrong?" Momma shrugged.

"It's weird is all. You're only eight and you're already having your first baby. I'm only twenty seven and I'm having my first grandchild." I giggled.

"It is weird when you think of it like that. So where're daddy and the others?"

"Hunting." Esme, who was sitting on the other side of me, tapped my shoulder for my attention and I turned to look at her.

"Do you have the bump yet?" I smiled and nodded, lifting my shirt and pulling my jeans down enough so they could see it. "It's still so small."

"Yeah, that won't last long." Esme laughed and nodded.

"No it won't. It'll be more noticeable by the end of the week, I promise."

"That's what I figured." Alice was now kneeling before me with a big smile.

"I don't suppose you would let me feel the bump, Nessie." I smiled and nodded.

"Go right ahead." Alice smiled wider and pressed her hand gently against the bump to feel it. While she was touching the bump, I felt an odd bit of pressure there, but I didn't think much of it.

"I can't believe our little Nessie's already having a baby. It happened too soon." Rosalie nodded in agreement.

"She grew up to fast, had her first relationship too soon, got married too soon, and now she's pregnant too soon." I suddenly felt a chin on my head and knew it was Valerie from Marlboro being on my shoulder.

"Hey there, Marlboro."

"So when are you having the baby, Nessie?"

"Some time in December most likely." Valerie giggled.

"I wonder what the baby will look like. I can just picture a pale kid with black hair that'll grow too tall and look scrawny." Rosalie swatted Valerie's arm and Valerie yelped.

"Don't say things like that, Valerie, it's rude."

"Sorry mommy." Despite Valerie's comment, I smiled.

"I just hope it looks like Jacob." I'm sure Rosalie wanted to say something, but she held her tongue to make sure she didn't make herself look like a hypocrite. But Alice was happy to do it for her.

"Oh no, Nessie, we want it to look like you, silly. Can you imagine how adorable this baby will be if it looks like you?"

"I say it would be cute if it looked like Jacob too." Momma spoke to drown out Alice.

"The baby will look like both of you, sweetheart. That's what a child does. It takes the best traits of both parents and make themselves into their own individual." Rosalie shook her head.

"It's not always the best traits. I've seen some ugly children in my time." Esme hit Rosalie.

"You should never say things like that about people's children. Even if you think they're ugly, it's horrible to say so."

"Oh come on, Esme. You've seen some of the kids I'm talking about."

"That's not the point, Rosalie. You don't say it out loud." Valerie giggled to herself when she saw Rosalie get yelled at and she cuddled Marlboro before taking a seat on one of the chairs and put Marlboro in her lap and petted him.

"Don't worry, Nessie. No matter who the baby looks like, it'll be adorable because it's yours." I smiled at momma.

"I know. The baby already is." I showed momma the image from the ultrasound at the gynecologist office. It was the first of many and I already knew my baby was beautiful. When she saw it, momma smiled.

"That's my point exactly. I'm thrilled the amniotic sac isn't going to be a huge issue."

"Me too. It was scary enough that the gynecologist noticed how hard and hot my skin was compared to most of her patients." Esme looked concerned.

"She didn't say anything about it did she?" I shook my head.

"Not much. She just acknowledged it and went back to her business." Momma sighed.

"Okay, that's a relief. As long as we don't need to find you another gynecologist." I shook my head.

"Thankfully no. I don't think I could tolerate getting a different gynecologist."

"I know how you feel, Nessie."

"So what do you think it is, Nessie?" I shrugged at Valerie's question.

"I don't know. I'll be happy either way."

"I thought you saw the baby."

"I did, but it was too soon to tell whether it was a boy or a girl." Valerie giggled.

"Is it true that they all look like sea monkeys at this stage?" I smiled while Rosalie gave Valerie a stern look.

"I think the baby's perfect." Valerie giggled and gave me a hug around my neck congratulating me. Since Marlboro was in her arms, he licked my ear and I giggled because it tickled.

While waiting for Carlisle to get back, I stayed with momma and the others in the living room watching a reality show none of us liked. A few hours later, Rachael came to the house hoping to see Carlisle too. For the past few years, Carlisle had basically been the Quileute doctor. He was one of the best physicians I knew and he didn't charge them for his services, so it was appealing for anyone. And Rachael and Paul weren't exactly in a position to pay for several hospital bills, so this helped give them one less thing they needed to worry about.

"Hey, Rachael."

"Hey, Nessie. Did Jacob tell you?" I nodded.

"Yeah, he did. I'm so happy for you and Paul." Rachael smiled.

"Thank you. I was worried he wouldn't want kids since we haven't talked about it since we got married, but when I told him, he was really excited."

"I'm happy to hear it. So are you seeing Carlisle today?" She nodded.

"Yeah. Last time I saw him, he estimated that I was about six weeks pregnant, and he said he'd give me some good prenatal vitamins today and tell me what foods and things I should avoid for the next few months."

"Awesome. Looks like we'll be pregnant together." She smiled.

"I heard you were pregnant. How far along are you?"

"Twelve weeks or so."

"Wow. And you just found out?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I wasn't looking for it and didn't notice I was late." Rachael laughed lightly.

"Really? My being late was what tipped me off. I'm never late."

"Mine are weird. I remember one time I went a month and a half without my period and that was before Jacob and I were even married."

"Odd."

"I know, right."

"So did Carlisle already give you an ultrasound?" I shook my head.

"No, but I went to the gynecologist today and she gave me one."

"Why go to the gynecologist when you have Carlisle.?"

"Because it's weird to have my grandpa looking down there." Rachael giggled.

"That's true. So does that mean you won't be using Carlisle?"

"He's delivering the baby and all, but there was just something I wanted a second opinion on. Evidently, there's nothing wrong with me." I was expecting to explain it, but Rachael seemed to already know about it.

"Paul told me about that. Are you sure there's nothing wrong? Such an extreme reaction seems a bit odd."

"Why does Paul know all that?"

"Jacob's worried about it and the pack overhears it. And Paul sometimes tries to make suggestions and voices his concern." I sighed.

"That's between the two of them I suppose."

"I know it's not my business. I'm just concerned too."

"I know. But the gynecologist said there wasn't anything wrong with the baby and she couldn't find anything that would cause concern. She thinks I could just be sensitive."

"I guess that could be it. So are you showing at all?" I smiled, nodded, then stood and walked over to her.

"It's not easy to see yet, but if you touch it, you know it's there."

"Could I?"

"I'd be offended if you didn't." She smiled and I lifted my shirt and unbuttoned my pants so she could feel the little bump. When it was exposed, she placed her hand on the bump.

"Wow. I thought you would show more by now."

"I did too, honestly. From what I hear, sometimes it takes some women longer to."

"If my mother was any indication, I'll start showing really soon."

"Sounds delightful. Have you been feeling sick?"

"Not really. The only sign I had was that I missed my period. Though I'm sure I'll start feeling it soon." I laughed without humor.

"I can't wait until I'm used to it. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate being sick all the time."

"I know, right. So do you know what it is yet?"

"No, it was too soon to tell."

"I'm glad to hear that whole hard sac thing isn't a problem."

"Believe me, I am too. I was terrified it would be, but thankfully, the doctor didn't see anything strange about me. She noticed my skin was a little hard, but she didn't say too much about it."

"You probably should avoid letting another doctor besides Carlisle examine you."

"Generally, I do."

After that, I took Rachael to the couch to join the rest of the group watching a bad reality show and we all talked to pass the time. Daddy and the others didn't come home for another hour, but daddy wanted to feel the bump for himself, as did all the others. Jasper didn't ask, but I already figured he wouldn't. He wasn't touchy feely, so touching the bump would've been odd for him.

As much of denial as daddy seemed to be that I was pregnant already, he was sure to let me know he was happy for me and Jacob. He couldn't hear the baby's thoughts yet, but that wasn't surprising. Jacob came to the house before Carlisle and was really annoyed that the doctor didn't find anything. He didn't complain about it too much, but I knew he was just really worried. When Carlisle finally came home, Rachael and I went to his office together so he could meet with us about whatever we needed. While Carlisle gave Rachael her first ultrasound, I told him what happened at the gynecologist.

"It doesn't sound right, Nessie. I know what she said, but I'm wondering if she missed something. I know it's weird, but I think I should take a look and make sure she didn't miss something." I sighed.

"If you think we should."

"Just try not to think of me as grandpa Carlisle. Think of me as Doctor Cullen and maybe it'll make it a little less weird."

"Maybe. But I'll take it if we could know there's nothing wrong."

"I'll examine you when I've finished Rachael's ultrasound."

Once Rachael heard the little heartbeat, she reacted the same way I did and her face lit up. She couldn't wait until Paul finally got to see it too. I still thought my baby was the cutest in the world, but I didn't say it. That would've been really rude of me. I suppose that's the beauty in having a baby of your own. No matter what, your baby is always the cutest in the world. When Carlisle was done, I took Rachael's place on the hospital cot he had in his office and started checking to see if there was anything wrong.

"I've got to say, I'm not finding anything."

"Really?"

"I'm afraid so. Maybe you are just starting to swell."

"Does it look like that?"

"No. There's no sign of swelling. I'm sorry, Nessie, but if there's no swelling, I don't know what else could be wrong." I groaned.

"Do you think you'll be able to figure it out later on?"

"I'll have to wait and see. I'm sorry, Nessie. I know how frustrating this is for you and Jacob." I shrugged.

"It could be worse, I suppose. We could have a hard time getting pregnant."

"I've seen how that effects couples. It's never good."

"We'll be happy that's not the case, then."

"Until then, I'm going to suggest the same prenatal vitamins to you that I did for Rachael. And you should increase your caloric intake."

"Alright. Thanks, Carlisle."

"No problem, Nessie." When I was done with my appointment with Carlisle, I went downstairs and sat next to him at the table in the kitchen and waited for him to finish the dinner momma had made him. When he was done with dinner, we drove home in our own cars and finally got a chance to talk in the shower.

"Even Carlisle didn't find anything?"

"No. There's no cuts, no swelling, no redness, no infection, nothing."

"Well, then what am I doing that's hurting you?" While I answered, I poured some shampoo in my hands and lathered it into Jacob's hair while he was bent down slightly and he held onto me while I was on my tiptoes.

"I'm sure it's nothing you're doing. It has to be something wrong with me. There's no way we could be fine one night, then the next night it hurts."

"Even if that's the case, we can't fix it until we know what's going on."

"Carlisle said he'd take another look when I was further along and see if I might be swelling up and it's the beginning of it." Jacob groaned.

"I hate not knowing."

"I know, Jacob. I do too."

All though neither of us liked it, we avoided being intimate. During the week, Jacob tried fingering me, but even that hurt more than I could tolerate. As I predicted, the bump was much more noticeable by the end of the week. One would still have to look carefully to see it, but if seen when I was naked, it was easy to spot. That Saturday when I met up with Aida, it was the first thing she wanted to feel.

"It's definitely there. So this would be thirteen weeks now, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Is it kicking yet?" I shook my head.

"I haven't felt anything yet."

"Did you find out what's making it hard for you and Jacob to do the nasty?" I gave Aida a stern look before answering her.

"No, we haven't found out what's causing it. Carlisle's going to give me a check up later today and see if there's any swelling."

"Will he put you on meds if there is?"

"Probably. It'll depend on what he sees. I just hope he can find something. If he finds something, that means we can fix it."

"True. So what're you and Jacob planning to name the little bugger, or have you not decided yet?"

"Kevin if it's a boy, Natalie if it's a girl."

"Those are nice names. Kevin and Natalie Black have a nice ring to them."

"I always thought so. And it would be Kevin Edward Black."

"Of course. So when do women usually have their baby showers?"

"I won't have it until a month or two before the baby's born. Alice already told me she would handle the gift list and where Jacob and I will be registered, but that's not for a while."

"When's the baby due?"

"December."

"Oh hell, you better have that shower in October at latest."

"Why do you say that?"

"Christmas, Nessie. The pushy holiday that hogs all the attention from the other holidays." I groaned.

"Shit. I forgot all about Christmas."

"We all wish we could."

"On the bright side, there'll be plenty of discounts by then." Aida thought about it and shrugged.

"That's true I suppose. I just don't want to deal with Christmas shopping traffic."

"I know, I wouldn't either. If worse comes to worse, you could always internet shop."

"I guess that's true. I could probably get something cool for real cheap off Craig's List."

"No. I would rather you got me nothing than something off Craig's List. The last thing I want if a used piece of baby equipment that you got in return for a blow job on an unhappily married fat man." Aida laughed really hard when I said that. It took a moment for her to have enough control to say something.

"I'll give you a blow job for a diaper genie. Brilliant." I sighed. "Oh, come on, Nessie. I have more self respect than that."

"Good."

"Hey. Would you be pissed if I got you condoms?"

"Yes, I would. It wouldn't be as offensive to me as it was for Mrs. Stanley, but yes, I would be very pissed."

"Alright, I got it. You have plenty of condoms I already gave you that you're not using anyway. Clearly."

"I was on the pill, Aida. We didn't need condoms. And I got pregnant because I forgot to take them."

"Yes, I know. Reminding you how stupid that was." I sighed.

"By the way, my sister-in-law is pregnant too."

"Everyone's pregnant these days. So does that mean you two will have the baby shower together?" I shook my head.

"I doubt it. Rachael's never been one for huge crowds and that's just what we'd have if we shared the baby shower. Between the two of us, we have way more friends than we're willing to accommodate."

"It must be lovely to be so popular." Aida said teasingly and I just rolled my eyes at her comment.

After we'd walked around Seattle for a while, Aida decided she was hungry and we stopped at Panera Bread so she could get a soup and sandwich. She got a tomato basil sandwich with a cheesy broccoli soup. Normally, I wouldn't find that really appealing, but for some reason, it smelled divine. Aida noticed me eying her food and gave me a weird look.

"See something you like, Nessie?"

"I'm sorry, it just smells really good."

"I thought you hated human food."

"I do. But it smells really good right now."

"Do you want to try it?" I was quiet a moment debating whether I should take her up on her offer or not. Eventually, the smell was too much for me.

"Would that be okay?"

"Sure, go for it." Then Aida pushed the platter closer to me and waited for me to try it. I took a piece of the sandwich off and dipped it in the soup. I'd seen Jacob do that all the time, so it seemed like something I should do.

When I had what I wanted, I pushed it back to her and took the food in my mouth. For the first time in all my life, I didn't taste mud, dirt, sand, burning rot, or anything else I'd ever compared food to. It was actually good. This was the strangest thing ever.

"You liked it?" I nodded.

"Yeah."

"I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything other than sauerkraut and capers."

"I know. It's weird."

"So does this mean you like human food from now on?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so. It's probably just the pregnancy. Jacob will be surprised to see me eating human food, that's for sure."

"I bet. Isn't it weird for him to eat while you're watching him and not eating anything?"

"It used to bother him, but he got used to it."

"I see. Are you going to start making portions for yourself or start slow and pick off his plate?"

"I'd rather do neither. If I started eating all this human food, I'd probably blow up like a blimp."

"Okay, this has been bothering me for a while and I've just got to ask. If you eat primarily blood, but you have human needs, then how is blood nutritionally good for you? It's nothing but water and iron." I shook my head.

"It's water, iron, b protein, a protein, there's sugar in blood, there's b12, and so on."

"If you say so, Nessie. You would know better than me." In truth, I didn't know. I was making stuff up. All I knew was that I could live off blood and be healthy, and that was good enough for me. "So hey, can I feel the belly?"

"You already did?"

"I want to feel it again." I smiled a little, surprised that she was taking so much interest in the baby. I nodded my head and she took a seat next to me and touched my bump. "Maybe it's because it's you, but this isn't as weird as it usually is for me. Call me crazy, but I might actually find this kid slightly okay." I giggled.

"I'm glad to hear you don't hate my baby."

"I could never hate your baby, Nessie. I just don't like kids in general, but since it's yours, it's okay." I smiled.

"Just out of curiosity, what do you think you and Zeppelin would do if you got pregnant?"

"I won't get pregnant. We're extremely careful. If I got pregnant, it would be a freak fluke. The pregnancy would have to occur between birth control, a condom with a little spermicide in it, and the Plan B pills I take the morning after we have sex." My eyes widened a bit.

"You're that desperate to not get pregnant?"

"I don't want kids, Nessie. I never have and I never will. Zeppelin doesn't want kids either. When I can afford it, I plan to get my tubes tied and he's getting a vasectomy so there's no chance of us having a baby."

"Extreme."

"Whatever it takes, Nessie."

"Are you two even planning to get married?"

"Why do we need to get married? We already live together, we're having sex, we know we aren't having kids, and we love each other enough to trust the other will always be there."

"It's just the principle of the matter is all I'm saying." Aida shrugged.

"I'd wear a ring if he wanted me to, but he trusts me enough to know I would never fuck anyone else unless he was directly involved." I sighed.

"Are you saying Jacob doesn't trust me because he has a ring on my finger?" Aida shook her head.

"Not at all. You two got married because you love each other and wanted to be together in every way you could and I commend you for that. Me and Zeppelin aren't like that. If, for whatever reason, things went under, we want to know that we'll be free to end it without any problem."

"There's always problems with ending a long lasting relationship."

"Exactly. Why make it harder and have to involve divorce lawyers?"

"It sort of sounds like you're expecting it to fail." Aida sighed.

"Nessie, I've seen my parents get divorced over stupid shit and affairs, then get back together and never remarry, and have affairs on the side that the other is fine with and they're perfectly happy. I don't want to set myself up for that kind of crap."

"I'm surprised your parents are still together after your dad got Mrs. Stanley pregnant."

"Please. Mom doesn't give a shit that dad knocked up the town gossip. She's had a few pregnancy scares herself and she was being a hypocrite."

"I know it's not the best circumstances, but why hate Hailey for it?"

"I don't hate Hailey per se. I just don't like that no one knows Hailey's the bastard son of my dad. Can you imagine the fun that would come from people finding out Hailey's actually my dad's kid?"

"Something tells me you would enjoy that a lot more than you should."

"Indeed I would. Nothing would please me more than to see that whore's world crumble before her eyes."

"She's not a whore, she's a slut. There's a difference, Aida."

"Both suck more cock than necessary." I rolled my eyes.

"Aren't you the one that told me you have a three way one time for your birthday?"

"That was once. And I didn't suck that other guy, only Zeppelin. And we haven't done a three way since then. All we want these days is each other, so suck it."

"I'm not trying to insult you, Aida. Don't tell me to suck it for pointing out a fact."

"Don't you ever, EVER, compare me to Mrs. Stanley again."

"I didn't compare you to Mrs. Stanley. All I'm saying is that there's a big difference between what she is and what you're calling her. She's an attention whore at best, but not a full out whore." Aida groaned.

"I still fucking hate her."

"I understand, Aida and I don't blame you. I would hate her too under the circumstances. But let's just drop it. She's not worth arguing over."

"That's true."

As much as I'd missed Aida, I was really happy to be back home later that afternoon. I wanted to just go to bed and sleep. Jacob was out with Quil and Seth and Embry since I was going out, so he wasn't home when I got back. I went upstairs, took a shower, and went straight to bed and was asleep in an instant. When I finally woke up, the room was dim and I heard rain pouring outside. I looked at the clock and it read nine in the morning. I couldn't believe I'd slept that long.

I turned in the bed and saw Jacob sleeping peacefully next to me. He wasn't facing me like he normally did. I stayed in bed and watched him while he slept and smiled at him when he finally woke up. When he was awake, he turned so he was facing me and brought me to him in his arms and I rested my head on his chest.

"Morning, Jacob."

"Morning, Nessie."

"How was your day yesterday?"

"Pretty fun. How about yours?"

"Decent. I was tired most of the time, but it was nice to see Aida again."

"That's good news."

It was weird. Jacob and I weren't normally so monotone with each other. I knew why it was happening, though. Jacob and I didn't know what was causing the pain, so we both felt bad for different reasons and it put us both in a bad mood. Normally, I would want to talk about it to clear the air, but that wasn't the case now. Talking about it would only put us both in an even worse mood. I was hoping this would clear up once the baby was born.

As the weeks passed, I noticed the bump getting bigger every day. One week, it was hardly noticeable, the next week, it looked like I'd gained a pound or something. I went to Carlisle for checkups regularly and though human food was starting to taste good, I avoided it for the most part. I didn't want to risk more weight gain than I already knew I was in for. Carlisle recommended that I use Shea butter lotions to keep the stretch marks from showing too much.

When I was about four months along, I started to feel the baby move a little. The baby didn't move much, but it was there. Normally, it would move whenever I was against something. It probably didn't like that. But whenever I touched the bump, the baby wouldn't move. As soon as Jacob or anyone else touched my bump, the baby started moving. It made me really jealous as I'm sure Jacob knew. One morning, I was making Jacob a quick breakfast before we went to work and he was standing next to me while I cooked.

"So when's your next ultrasound?"

"Carlisle said he would do it this weekend for me. And we'll be able to tell if it's a boy or a girl."

"That's exciting news at least." I looked at Jacob from the eggs I was cooking.

"What are you so mad about?" He looked surprised and shrugged.

"Who said I was mad?"

"Jacob, just tell me why you're so mad and then we can fix it and move on with the day." Jacob groaned and rubbed his face.

"Nessie, I don't want to talk about it. And I'm not mad, I'm frustrated." I sighed.

"Jacob, I know it's been tough and all, but please don't bring it out on me."

"I'm not trying to bring it out on you."

"Well don't bring out your sexual frustration out on the baby either."

"I wasn't!" The egg was finished cooking, and when it was on his plate, I started crying. I couldn't wait for the baby, but I also couldn't wait to not be pregnant anymore. This was ridiculous. "Nessie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." I shook my head.

"I'm not crying because of that. I just can't take this much longer. I'm fighting to not eat human food, I'm either always tired or can't sleep at all, I'm irritable about everything, I'm forgetting thing.." Jacob stopped me and took a hold of my shoulders.

"Nessie, calm down. It's been hard on us both, but we'll get through it, okay. Only five more months and everything will go back to normal and we'll have a new baby." I was quiet while I tried to push away the tears that were welling up in me. Jacob brushed them aside and tilted my chin so I was looking at him. "It'll be alright, Nessie." I finally smiled.

"I hope so, Jacob."

"It will be." Jacob smiled and kissed me before bringing me into his arms for a hug. I hugged him back tightly weaving my arms around his neck while his were around my back. But while we were hugging, I felt a horrible job on my lower stomach that was similar to the pain I'd felt while having sex. I screeched in pain and Jacob yelled in pain too. "What the fuck, Nessie! Why did you kick me?!"

"I didn't kick you!"

"What the hell do you mean you didn't kick me?! I just felt you kick me dangerously close to my groin!"

"I said I didn't do it, damn it! I felt it just like you did!"

"Well, who the hell did it, Nessie?!" Jacob and I both looked at my pregnant belly, then we looked back at each other. "No way."

There was no way the baby did that. But who else could've kicked Jacob and me. What made it strange was how hard it was. It was like I'd been kicked across my stomach by a muscular set of legs. Cautiously, Jacob walked back to me and placed his hand over my belly again and within seconds, I felt that horrible pain again and Jacob jumped back.

"The baby did that?"

"It would appear so." I said this through whining held back tears. When I pictured my baby kicking, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I thought I'd feel a little nudge that everyone would beg to feel. Then I felt Jacob grab a hold of my hand and started pulling me with him. "What are you doing?"

"We're going to Carlisle."

"What good will that do us?"

"I don't know. But we're going." When we got to the garage, Jacob opened the door and buckled me into the seat, then ran to the driver's seat and started the car.

"Jacob, what about the shop?"

"It can wait."

Jacob was driving way over the speed limit and we got to the house in minutes. Daddy was outside waiting for us and was at my side the moment Jacob had the car in park. Jacob and daddy were leading me into the house and daddy went to the phone and called Carlisle, asking him to come home. Momma walked over to me looking concerned.

"Renesmee, what's the matter?" While momma asked, her hand rested on my belly and the kick happened again. I whined in pain and momma looked stunned. "Oh my god."

"What happened?" Alice asked. Daddy came over and answered her.

"The baby kicked." Momma looked stunned.

"The baby? Since when do babies kick that hard?"

"This one does."

"Well, why is he kicking me, daddy."

"I don't know, honey. I still can't hear the baby's thoughts."

"Is there anything Carlisle can do?" Daddy shook his head at Jacob.

"Probably not." Jacob groaned.

"Great. So now I can't even hug my own wife." I groaned and momma took me to the couch so I could sit down and wait out the pain from the kick.

Jacob took a seat next to me on the couch and I took a hold of his hand, making sure to keep it away from the baby. When I felt okay, I rested my head against Jacob's shoulder, still making sure to keep the baby away from any part where it would be touched. When Carlisle finally got to the house, daddy and Jacob took me and followed Carlisle to his office where he still had the hospital bed and told me to take a seat.

"Do you think you can do anything?"

"If it's just the baby kicking, than I'm afraid not. This could be why you were feeling pain." I gave Carlisle a weird expression.

"What do you mean?"

"I've encountered a lot of pregnancies, honey. And there are times when a woman will be pregnant with a baby that simply doesn't like to be touched. Granted, the kick isn't nearly as strong as Edward told me about, but truth be told, that's all it probably is."

"So….when Nessie and I were trying to be intimate, the baby didn't like the contact and caused pain to make it stop?" Carlisle shrugged.

"That's the only other explanation there is. And considering how strong this baby is and how violently it's reacting to it, it makes a lot more sense than sensitivity or an infection."

"Even if that's the case, how is this baby so strong? It's just a baby."

"Nessie had a strong kick when she was little. Bella had bruises from your kicks, Nessie. That's probably what this is." Carlisle got the gel and poured in and poured a little on my belly. "Now I can't promise the baby won't start kicking. So be prepared, okay, Nessie." I nodded.

"Okay." Carlisle started picking buttons until he had the machine on the setting he wanted, then he put the monitor over the gel and started moving it around. But moments after, I felt the kick and Carlisle almost lost his hold on the monitor. Carlisle looked wide eyed.

"I wasn't expecting that." I was groaning to myself as I tried to not think about the kick so much.

"Is there really nothing you can do?"

"I'm sorry, Nessie. But when a baby kicks, there's no stopping it. I hate saying this, but you probably won't be able to be near each other until the baby's born." Jacob and I both sighed in aggravation in unison.

"When is the baby due again?" Jacob asked. I answered, not really happy.

"December. Five months from now."

"You don't suppose this is just a phase or something?" Carlisle shook his head.

"When a baby's a kicker, it's a kicker. They don't change for your convenience. When they're in the womb, they don't have to. That's the beauty of being a baby. It's the only time in their lives when they have no cares in the world and they don't have to change." I sighed.

"Did you at least get an image of the baby?" Carlisle finally smiled and nodded his head.

"Yes, I did. He has a bit of a big head, but it's a baby, so that's to be expected. Once it starts getting older it won't look quite so all head and body."

"Could you tell what the gender was?"

"I didn't get a chance to look. I'll try again if you want." Jacob looked at me, letting me decide. I was reluctant, but I figured I could take one more kick.

"Try to make it fast."

Carlisle smiled and put the monitor back on me. Carlisle was prepared this time, so he was able to hold the monitor in place even when the baby kicked. It hurt, but I didn't complain. He pointed the screen so Jacob and I could see it while he moved around the monitor. Once he had what we wanted, he took the monitor off me and the kicking finally stopped.

"Congratulations, you two. It's a boy." For the first time all day, I smiled.

"It's a boy?" Carlisle nodded.

"Yes it's a boy."

I looked at Jacob and he was smiling a little too. Despite the painful kicks, it made the whole experience a lot better knowing I was carrying my baby boy. I sat up in the bed and touched my belly. It wasn't huge yet, but it was certainly noticeable. And it seemed whenever I touched him, he didn't kick. It was everyone and everything else that bothered him. I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride from that knowledge, even though it was a little aggravating.

"Kevin." Jacob smiled wider.

"It's nice to finally call him by his name isn't it?" I nodded.

"It really is." I think Jacob wanted to touch the bump, but he didn't want to risk hurting me again, so he didn't touch me.

Surprisingly enough, a few weeks later, Rachael had her ultrasound and found out she and Paul were having a boy too. They'd decided to name the baby Maxi after Paul's dad. Technically, his name would be Maxwell, but Rachael didn't like that name and Maxi was a variation she could live with. She made it clear that the next time they had a baby, she would choose the name. Paul was so proud about it. Jacob was too and Jacob would come home from patrol with a grin on his face saying how he didn't care what Paul said, our baby was the best. It always made me giggle to hear that from him. We were still frustrated, but at least we had a name and gender to the baby. It made us feel closer to him.

Aida was crying from laughing so hard when I told her what Kevin had done when I told her about the ultrasound. When she finally stopped laughing, she went to the other room in their apartment to tell Zeppelin about it. Normally, I would prefer she didn't share this sort of stuff with him, but the man was stoned when she told him, so I wasn't worried about him remembering. I could smell the pot from a mile away.

At the shop, I always got compliments from Steven over how lovely I looked that day. He was a really nice guy and he seemed sincere, which I appreciated. Before long, I had him doing me little favors like getting me water or something like that. Jacob was glad Steven was being so helpful.

As the weeks of the pregnancy went by, Rachael and I had gotten much closer than we used to be. She and I would go to baby stores together and hardware stores choosing what colors were good for a baby room and what furniture was the best for our babies. We knew we'd get most of these things at the baby showers anyway, but it was nice to look. And it was an opportunity to bond. The day I'd bought paint, I was super excited to start painting. While I was in the shower, Jacob came in to shave for the night and I picked then to bring it up.

"I bought the paint today, so I was hoping we could start painting tomorrow."

"What color did you get?" I answered while I stepped out of the shower.

"I got a dark green. It's more masculine and I thought it would last him a while. I's that dark shade of green that's one of the army colors."

"Oh, that green. Yeah, I think that should last. Besides, boys aren't that picky."

"I'm counting on it." Jacob chuckled.

"Me too." When I was dried off, I went to the closet and changed into my baggy pajamas that I'd started wearing. Jacob thought it was silly that I would be so self-conscious, but pregnant or not, I felt fat.

Once I was dressed, I went to bed and tried to fall asleep. Jacob came to bed shortly after me and gave me a kiss before trying to fall asleep himself. Later in the night, I felt a horrible pain in my belly and then heard Jacob yell and fall out of the bed. I shot up and looked at him laying on the floor trying to get back up with one hand over the spot where he was kicked.

"Jacob, are you okay?"

"Just give me a moment." Jacob got to his feet at last and sat back on the bed. I kept my belly from facing Jacob while I rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Better?" Jacob nodded.

"Yeah. It's better now." Jacob sighed and rubbed his face. "Maybe I should sleep on the floor."

"No, Jacob, don't do that. I'll sleep on the floor."

"You're not sleeping on the floor." I sighed.

"Please, Jacob, don't do that. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Nessie."

"Just stay here, okay. Kevin didn't mean it." Jacob chuckled a little.

"Yeah he did. He hates being touched remember?"

"He's just a baby, Jacob. He doesn't know better."

"I know, Nessie." Jacob turned to give me a kiss, then laid back on the bed. "I'll try this again, but I'm sleeping on the floor if I get kicked out of bed again, okay."

"Alright, fair enough." Jacob and I laughed and we kissed before we went back to sleep.

The weeks wore on and Kevin seemed to get more and more intolerant as time went on. It wasn't long before even me being against a wall or table would get him kicking. I'd felt a pleasant kick once. It was while I was eating a key lime pie that not long ago, I thought was sour and gross. Now, it seemed like I couldn't get enough of pie. I managed to stay away from food for the most part and stuck with blood since that taste didn't change, but every now and then, I just needed something. I even ate at Thanksgiving for the first time in my whole life. By then, I was huge. I swear, I looked like I was about to pop.

Although there was something that worried me. As the baby was growing, daddy couldn't hear Kevin's thoughts. Daddy knew what a baby's thoughts were usually like. They didn't know words, so their thoughts consisted of simple images and emotions they couldn't yet identify. And daddy wasn't hearing anything like that. This had me and Jacob really worried. And since Jacob couldn't be close to Kevin, it was even more unsettling. I was terrified that Jacob and Kevin wouldn't be close because of it.

"Edward, are you sure you can't hear anything?" Daddy sighed.

"Jacob, I'm sorry, but I don't hear anything. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. His grandma is a shield, I'm a mind reader, and his mother pushes images into people's heads. The reason I can't hear him is probably something to do with that." I smiled a little, though I was still worried.

"So it's pretty certain that Kevin has his own little gift?" Daddy nodded.

"I wouldn't doubt it. I'm curious what it will be. It wouldn't be exactly the same as your mother's power, though I'm sure it would be a variation of yours or Bella's or mine or a distinct combination of them."

"I'm worried how the wolf thing will work out." I looked at Jacob.

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm worried that being a third vampire will have a weird effect on him when he's old enough to shift." I shrugged.

"We'll worry about that when it's closer to the time he'd most likely shift for the first time. Until then, I'm worried about daddy not being able to hear Kevin."

"Don't worry too much, honey. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for it."

"That doesn't make me feel better." Daddy sighed.

"Nessie, I know you hate not knowing what's going on with Kevin, but trust me, I'm sure he's doing fine. And he's probably not sure how to use his gift to let me hear him. When he's born, you'll realize you had nothing to worry about."

"Still…"

"Renesmee, stop worrying so much. It'll only put stress on you and that's bad for the baby." Jacob looked confused.

"How would her being stressed hurt the baby? That's always been something I've wondered."

"When a woman's worrying, her heart rate goes up, different hormones for emotion are released and her body gets hotter, there's a million things that a woman's body does when she's stressed and it could impact the baby negatively." Jacob looked at me.

"Nessie, why don't I take you hunting tonight to take your mind off everything?"

"Jacob, Kevin's inside me. I can't take my mind off him when all thirty pounds of baby and water are attached to me." Daddy chuckled and Jacob smiled a little.

"I guess that's true."

As Rachael and I agreed, we didn't have joined baby showers. It would've been weird. But she did come to my baby shower as I went to hers. Lia and Ada-María were fascinated by the large bump and were asking me questions the whole time. The only men at the shower were daddy and Alphonse. Alphonse stayed next to Amadora the whole time. He looked bored the whole time though.

He wasn't the type that liked staying in one spot. He liked to look around and make up little scenarios in his head and so on. He was an explorer through and through. But he did befriend Marlboro. Valerie had been sitting next to Amadora and Alphonse and Alphonse just started playing with the cat. Later that day, he made the noisy block of his and moved it around, enticing Marlboro to play with it.

"I'm surprised the baby's kicking this much. Even Marcelo wasn't that much of a kicker." I shrugged.

"I've gotten pretty used to it. And the bruises never last more than a few minutes. But as long as I stay away from things, it's fine." Lia smiled.

"So what's this I'm hearing about you kicking Jacob out of bed?" There was a joined laugh, especially from daddy, seeing as he knew the whole situation, and I sighed.

"I didn't kick him out of bed. Kevin kicked him out of bed. And it wasn't intentional."

"I guess he's not playing around when he doesn't want to be touched, isn't that right, Kevin?" Ada-María said to my belly. I was grateful she didn't touch me though I'm sure she wanted to.

Thanks to the baby shower, Jacob and I didn't have to buy much. Titus and Nicoleta sent us a beautifully crafted mahogany crib and changing table with a light green baby bed and changing mat. They fit in with the room perfectly. We also got plenty of baby clothes that were adorable and Esme was sweet enough to make a blanket for the baby. It was a train with Kevin's name on it with a bunch of animals in the train with a bear as the conductor. When it was finally December, I was fixing up the room every chance I got. I wanted so badly for it to be perfect. I was hoping that Kevin would be born before Christmas and I was getting more impatient as the days went on.

"Steven?" I called to Steven from my office and he walked in with his usual smile.

"Yes Mrs. Black?"

"Would you be a dear and get me that paid stamp? I forgot to take it with me when I got here."

"Sure thing." Unfortunately, because of all the snow that was falling, there were more accidents happening. If there was a bright side, I'd say it was that Jacob had more customers than usual, though it was still a shame. "Here you go, Mrs. Black."

"Thank you, Steven." It was kind of funny. I was only nine and Steven was seventeen, and yet he addressed me as his elder. It was actually a little funny those moments I took to think about it.

Once I had all the needed things stamped, I went to the front and put them on the front desk for Steven to take care of. I was feeling hungry, so I went to the back room to see if there was anything to nibble one. When I was there, I looked in the fridge and saw a little container with my name and a note. _Sweet things for sweet mommy, love Alice._ I giggled when I saw it and took out the piece of pie. But when I took a bite out of it, it was horrible.

It tasted exactly the way it used to taste. Sour and earthly, like chewing on dirt. I didn't want to waste it, so I got a post-it and wrote Jacob's name on it instead. I would have to tell Jacob that I didn't like human food anymore. That actually made me feel a little excited. I went back to my office and started working for a few more hours when I felt a jabbing in my abdomen. I wasn't one of Kevin's kicks. This was different. It was actually a little worse. The pain lasted for a few minutes, then it was gone again. I knew exactly what was happening.

"Steven!" Steven walked in and was already nervous from the panic he'd heard in my voice.

"Is something wrong, Mrs. Black?" I nodded.

"I need you to get Jacob. Tell him Kevin's coming." Steven looked confused a moment. When he realized I meant the baby, he rushed out of my office and into the garage and Jacob was in my office in seconds.

"Are you sure the baby's coming?"

"I'm sure. I just had a contraction. It didn't last very long, but we better get to the house and wait for Carlisle."

"Wait my ass. He's getting there now." Before I could argue with Jacob, he called the house and told whoever answered that I was in labor and that Carlisle needed to get back and help us. I finally got a chance to speak when he hung up the phone.

"Jacob, it could be hours before the baby starts coming. You can't expect Carlisle to come off work just because I felt a twinge of pain. My water hasn't even broken yet."

"And I don't want him far away from the house just in case it doesn't take hours. Now come on, he's on his way now anyway." Jacob rushed over to me and pulled me off the chair and started walking me to the car. He went to the garage to put someone in charge and we left as soon as we got to the car.

While we were driving to the house, I felt another pain in my abdomen, but I tried not to make much noise. Jacob was freaking out enough as it was. I didn't want him freaking out more. When we got to the house, everyone was waiting for us and momma, Alice, Rosalie, and Esme rushed over to me asking me if I was alright and all the while half carrying me into the house.

"Has your water broken, Renesmee?" I shook my head at momma's question.

"Not yet. I just started feeling contractions."

"Are you having one right now?" I shook my head at Esme.

"Not anymore. It stopped while we were driving here." They didn't let go of with that reassurance. Once I was in Carlisle's Office and was changed into the gown, Alice put me on the hospital bed that was still in there.

"Alice, let her walk around. It'll help get her water to break." Daddy ran over after that and help me to stand back up again. Jacob wasn't far behind him and took over holding me up once I was standing.

"How're you feeling, Nessie?"

"I'm fine right now." Esme walked over to me and asked her question.

"Exactly how many minutes ago was your last contraction?" I thought about it.

"About five minutes ago." Esme looked relieved.

"Good. You probably won't feel another one for at least another forty minutes. Carlisle will be home by then."

"When will her water break?" Ryan asked. Esme answered him.

"It's hard to say. It could be hours before it actually breaks." I groaned.

"That long?" Esme gave me a guilty smile and said nothing after that. Carlisle arrived shortly after that and asked me a few questions about how I was feeling.

It was an hour before my water finally broke. Jacob went into a panic when I did and I felt a wave of pain and went to the bed to lay down hoping it would help. It didn't do anything to make me feel better.

"How're you feeling, Nessie."

"I'm in labor, Jacob. How the hell do you think I'm feeling?"

"Are you having a contraction right now?"

"Yes, Jacob, I'm having a contraction and you're not helping me."

"Well, what do you want me to do? How can I help?"

"You can help by shutting the hell up! Your panicking is making me nervous!"

"Well, how the hell am I supposed to act, Nessie?! I've never done any of this before!"

"Neither have I, Jacob. So stop making me nervous." Carlisle interrupted.

"Nessie, calm down. I know you're in pain, but don't bring it out on Jacob."

"It's his fault."

"How is this my fault?"

"It's yours, that's how it's your fault!"

"Both of you stop now. Arguing isn't going to get Kevin to come out any sooner. Now, Nessie, you'll be happy to know that you've gotten to eight centimeters in the past two hours. You might be one of the lucky women that are only in labor three hours."

"That's happy to know."

"Extremely." I tightened my grip on Jacob's hand at his sarcastic tone and earned a pained groan from him, but he didn't yell at me for it.

As Carlisle predicted, I was at ten centimeters by the end of three hours and he had me start pushing. Every time Jacob said something, I crushed his hand. I wasn't in the mood to listen to him panic and try to tell me to push. I knew to push without him yelling it frantically in my ear. Aside from Carlisle, Jacob was the only one in the room with me. The room would've felt too crowded with everyone in here.

When I was ready, I started pushing when Carlisle told me to. The pain was the worst I'd ever felt. I could suddenly understand why a woman would scream while in labor. I wouldn't let myself scream, but I came close to screaming every time I tried to push. I could already tell Kevin was going to be big for his age. I blamed Jacob for this and had no problem telling him that too. I couldn't seem to hear anything but mine and Kevin's heartbeat while I was trying to push him out. There were few things in this world that gave me more relief when I heard Carlisle say the baby was crowning.

"One more big push, that's all it'll take, Nessie."

"Alright Carlisle." Carlisle counted to three and I started pushing on three. After that push, I felt so much relief, and heard Kevin cry. I was smiling already and so was Jacob.

"It's a boy." I giggled and Carlisle cut the umbilical cord and took Kevin to Esme to clean him. While she had him, Carlisle removed the placenta and gave me some meds to help lessen the pain was feeling at that moment. When Esme came back, I was glowing.

"Do you guys want to see him?" I nodded and my arms were open ready to take Kevin in my arms when she walked over to me.

He was without a doubt the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. He had Jacob's tan skin, though it would probably get a little darker as he got older. But his hair was the same color as mine. Normally, a tan child with bronze hair would look odd, but on him, it was perfect. His hair was really short, but I could see the bronze in it. I said his name, and he opened his eyes to look at me, revealing what could only be my daddy's human green eyes.

"He's perfect." I nodded.

"He is. I told you he would look just like you." Jacob chuckled and kissed my forehead. He really did look like Jacob. The only factor that showed I was in him was the green eyes and the bronze in his hair. It would probably get darker as he got older too, but it didn't matter.

"He wears it a lot better than I do." I giggled and turned my head and gave him a kiss.

"I'm sorry I was yelling at you." Jacob shrugged.

"The boy's nine pounds. I don't blame you." I giggled again and looked at Kevin, who was now trying to find my breast so he could eat. I pulled of the left side of my gown so Kevin could find it and he was sucking the moment he found it. I winced. "What's wrong?"

"It just hurts is all."

"Is it supposed to?" I nodded.

"That's what Kim and Emily told me. It hurts for a while, but they said once I'm used to it, it won't be so bad. This is healthier for him anyway. I get the feeling that formula just won't cut it with Kevin." Jacob chuckled.

"Not if he's got my appetite."

"Oh god, I didn't even think about that." Jacob laughed out loud and kissed me again before he bent down and kissed Kevin's head.

"He's not kicking me."

"I guess he just wanted to be left alone while I was carrying him." Kevin was still sucking and by the looks of it, he wouldn't stop any time soon. It wouldn't surprise me if he really did have Jacob's appetite.

"He's a greedy little piglet isn't he?" I gave Jacob a look that lectured, but was filled with affection. I was too happy to be mad.

"He gets it from his daddy." Jacob chuckled and caressed Kevin's little cheek while he was sucking. He looked especially adorable in his little blue hippo one piece pajamas. Daddy came into the room with momma to come see their grandson. Momma walked right to me and looked at Kevin.

"He looks like a mix between Jacob and Edward." I smiled.

"The two best looking men I know." Jacob and daddy smiled and Kevin finally finished eating and started crying again. I lifted up my gown to cover myself and brought Kevin to my shoulder and patted his back until he coughed and didn't have the bubbles in his tummy anymore.

"Can I hold him?" I smiled and nodded while handing Kevin to Jacob. While Jacob held Kevin looking at him, I turned my attention to daddy. He already knew my question.

"Sorry, honey. I still can't hear his thoughts."

"Maybe he does just have my gift." Daddy shook his head.

"I doubt it, Bella. No two vampires have the same gift."

"But he's only a third vampire."

"Even so, he has my gift and Nessie's gift influencing him. Not to mention the shifting that Jacob's clan can do. That might just add a whole other possibility. But he looks like he'll age like a normal child, so it could be years before he learns how to use his gift."

"That sucks."

As they were talking, I started looking at Kevin again. He was looking around with interest. Then an image of Jacob with a questioning glow entered my mind. I was stunned, but was also not the only one that saw and heard it. Jacob was the one to speak.

"Nessie, were you asking me something?" I shook my head.

"I didn't touch you." Daddy spoke next.

"I can hear him." I looked at daddy.

"What?"

"Well, I could. I can't anymore. I could hear his thoughts when he pushed Jacob's image in our heads. He was asking who he was." Jacob looked at Kevin and his green eyes and smiled.

"I'm your dad, Kevin." Another image came into my head. It was a question to what Jacob had just said. He was asking what a 'dad' was.

"He has your gift, Nessie." Daddy continued momma's thought.

"He can push thoughts into our heads from a distance and yet I can only hear him when he lets me. It's kind of like Bella's shield." I heard what daddy said, but I was concentrating on Kevin. I knew Kevin wouldn't understand words. So instead, I touched his little face, and explained to him with imagery what a daddy was. Once Kevin understood, he smiled at Jacob.

"Now he knows what you are." Jacob smiled.

"Really?" I nodded. "How did you explain it to him?"

"I showed him images of all the things you and he would do together. Like hunting, fishing, fixing cars, camping. All those things. He thinks they sound like fun." Jacob smiled from ear to ear.

"I did hear that last part." I giggled and sat up to turn to Jacob. "I guess he's really gifted."

"Of course he is." Momma came to Jacob's side and asked to hold Kevin for a bit. She introduced herself and daddy as his grandparents. Again, Kevin put in all our minds the question of what those were. Momma brought him to me so I could explain it to Kevin through images. Once he understood, he smiled at them both.

"He's perfect, honey." I smiled.

"I know." Momma laughed a little and started brushing her palm gently over Kevin's dark bronze short thin hair while daddy did the same while holding momma. Then, an image of my breast filled my head and a glow of hunger. I laughed and reached out to momma to hand me Kevin.

"Try not to feed him too much, Nessie."

"I know. I just need to give him something frequently at this age. At least that's what I read."

"We can start introducing him to baby food at three months. I wonder if he'll eat human food."

"He will. I kept eating human food while I was pregnant, so I don't doubt Kevin will take that up."

Carlisle needed to keep me and Kevin at the house for a bit so he could make sure we were all okay. I spent that time with Kevin and would talk to him through images for hours. It was like what I used to do with momma, only Kevin could respond mentally and he could only understand images and emotions. Jacob stayed with us through that all getting to know Kevin just as I was. I was so happy. Happier than I was even on my wedding day. I had my baby boy and he was everything I could ever want. When Jacob and I brought Kevin home, I had to show him everything.

"See, Kevin? This is your room. Isn't it nice?" Kevin didn't really respond, but I smiled anyway. I was holding Kevin while Jacob ate dinner and stayed with Kevin through most of the night while Jacob was on patrol. I finally went to sleep and woke up with Jacob holding me.

"Morning, Nessie."

"Morning, Jacob." Jacob smiled.

"This is the first time I've been able to hug you in months."

"I know. It feels nice." Jacob grinned, as did I, and we kissed.

"Everyone said congratulations. I told them to come over this weekend to meet Kevin." I smiled.

"I'm sure Kevin will love the company." Jacob and I looked at each other with affection in silence for a while. When Jacob spoke, he almost sounded overwhelmed.

"I can't believe we're really parents."

"I know. It's so strange. But it's so great."

"It is. I can't wait to teach him everything I know."

"I can't wait to start teaching him how to walk and talk." Jacob chuckled.

"Be careful what you wish for, Nessie. Once Mikey, Katy, and Allison Shea started talking, there was no shutting them up."

"We won't need to shut Kevin up." Jacob chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"A mother's bias." I shrugged.

"What can I say?" Jacob and I shared one more laugh. Then he took me into his arms for a loving hug. We couldn't make love for a while, but a hug was more than enough for now. It was the most contact we'd had in months. And despite all the pain, the aggravation, the mood swings, the weird cravings and everything in between, I wouldn't give any of it up for the world.


	33. Hunter's Moon

**Ending to book two of the Renesmee series. The third and final part of the Renesmee series will be on in April. It will be called **_**Hunter's Moon**_**. It won't be nearly as long as **_**The Renesmee Series**_** or **_**Horizon**_**. It will only have chapters that show what happen to Nessie and her family for as far as I've planned it out. Only important events will be highlighted. I look forward to righting this and I guarantee that you will get to know, and love Kevin as much as I've come to love him. Until then, thanks to my readers for your interest and for staying with me for all this time. Enjoy the end of **_**Horizon **_**and eagerly await the publication of **_**Hunter's Moon**_**. **

**Forever Yours,**

**Greenpeach20**


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